gigawatt

noun

giga·​watt ˈji-gə-ˌwät How to pronounce gigawatt (audio) ˈgi- How to pronounce gigawatt (audio)
: a unit of power equal to one billion watts

Examples of gigawatt in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
The Biden administration set a national offshore wind goal of 30 gigawatts of capacity in 2030 and 110 gigawatts by 2050. Barbara Kates-Garnick, The Conversation, 6 Feb. 2025 The data center will bring around one gigawatt of compute power online in 2025, Zuckerberg said, and Meta will have more than 1.3 million graphics processing units (GPUs) by the end of the year. Britney Nguyen, Quartz, 27 Jan. 2025 The power sector accounts for nearly a third of the nation's greenhouse gas emissions, and Biden-era policies sought to deploy 30 gigawatts of offshore wind by 2030. Yaakov Katz, Newsweek, 16 Jan. 2025 To meet this soaring demand, the U.S. is adding 46 gigawatts of natural gas capacity by 2030—equivalent to the entire electricity system of Norway. Diana Spehar, Forbes, 25 Feb. 2025 See All Example Sentences for gigawatt

Word History

First Known Use

circa 1962, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of gigawatt was circa 1962

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Cite this Entry

“Gigawatt.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gigawatt. Accessed 12 Mar. 2025.

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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