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.
Consider Virginia, where Dominion serves nearly three million households and is anchoring massive data centers, with dozens of gigawatts of data center demand in one county alone. Rohan Goswami, semafor.com, 18 May 2026 Expect that premium to show up in capex pricing, in offtake terms, and eventually in where the next gigawatt of training compute gets built. Güney Yıldız, Forbes.com, 18 May 2026 Ryan Harris, chief revenue officer of Span, said the company estimates XFRA will be able to generate about one to two megawatts worth of compute later this year, scaling across the country to an annual capacity of more than 1 gigawatt beginning next year. Sasha Rogelberg, Fortune, 15 May 2026 It’s been forecasted that electricity demand in California will grow to 160 gigawatts by 2045. Rob Nikolewski, San Diego Union-Tribune, 13 May 2026 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

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Gigawatt.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gigawatt. Accessed 21 May. 2026.

Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

More from Merriam-Webster