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
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The company was also selected as one of four partners working to develop up to 1 gigawatt of nuclear energy generation capacity at Texas A&M University's RELLIS campus in Bryan-College Station. Karoline Leonard, Austin American Statesman, 30 July 2025 Solar installations in May reached nearly 100 gigawatts, equal to installing 100 solar panels nearly every second, according to the Asia Society Policy Institute. Tim McDonnell, semafor.com, 29 July 2025 This year alone, a record 32.5 gigawatts of utility-scale solar will likely be added to the domestic grid, along with 7.7 GWs of wind power and 18.2 GWs of new battery storage capacity, according to an Energy Information Administration estimate. Alan Ohnsman, Forbes.com, 28 July 2025 The expansion, which TechCrunch reports is part of a $30 billion per year deal between OpenAI and Oracle, will reportedly bring OpenAI's total Stargate capacity under development to over 5 gigawatts. Benj Edwards, ArsTechnica, 23 July 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 5 Aug. 2025.

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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