gigawatts
Grid capacity measures
Gigawatts is the plural of gigawatt, a unit of power equal to one billion watts.
The term appears in discussions of large-scale energy production—power plants, national grids, renewable energy capacity: The solar farm generates two gigawatts.
The word entered popular consciousness through *Back to the Future*, where 1.21 gigawatts powers time travel—often misheard as "jigawatts," reflecting an older pronunciation.
Million-watt units
- terawattsTrillion watts of power
- kilowattsThousand-watt units
- power plantsFacilities producing electricity
- nuclear reactorsFission-powered energy generators
fusion reactors · hydroelectric dams · national grid · industrial capacity · data centers · base load · peak demand · installed capacity
Facilities producing electricity
- nuclear plantsFission-powered electricity generators
- solar farmsLarge-scale photovoltaic installations
- wind farmsGrouped turbines generating electricity
- hydroelectricGenerated by flowing water
turbines · generators · reactors · fossil fuels · coal plants · gas plants · biomass · geothermal
Thousand-watt units
- megawattsMillion-watt units
- terawattsTrillion watts of power
- watt-hoursEnergy consumption unit
- power outputEnergy delivered per time
Linked transmission system
- high-voltageCarrying strong electrical current
- transformersVoltage-altering electrical devices
- substationsVoltage transformation facilities
- transmission linesCables carrying electrical current
distribution · infrastructure · interconnectors · power lines · utilities · load balancing · blackouts · brownouts
megawatts
Million-watt units
- terawattsTrillion watts of power
- kilowattsThousand-watt units
- power plantsFacilities producing electricity
nuclear reactors · fusion reactors · hydroelectric dams · national grid · industrial capacity · data centers · base load · peak demand · installed capacity · utility-scale
power plants
Facilities producing electricity
- nuclear plantsFission-powered electricity generators
- solar farmsLarge-scale photovoltaic installations
- wind farmsGrouped turbines generating electricity
hydroelectric · turbines · generators · reactors · fossil fuels · coal plants · gas plants · biomass · geothermal · offshore wind
kilowatts
Thousand-watt units
- megawattsMillion-watt units
- terawattsTrillion watts of power
- watt-hoursEnergy consumption unit
power grid
Linked transmission system
- high-voltageCarrying strong electrical current
- transformersVoltage-altering electrical devices
- substationsVoltage transformation facilities
transmission lines · distribution · infrastructure · interconnectors · power lines · utilities · load balancing · blackouts · brownouts · smart grid
- electricityelectricity, battery, batteries, wire, wires
- Back to the FutureDeLorean, Doc Brown, Marty McFly, flux capacitor, time machine
- energy metricspower consumption, power rating, energy output, power draw, megawatts
gigawattsmilliwatts
Power in tiny increments
microwatts · picowatts · watts · kilowatts · megawatts