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.
Amazon has promised $100 billion of AI spending and last year invested $500 million into nuclear startup X-Energy, which aims to build 5 gigawatts of small, modular reactors on datacenter grounds. Christopher Helman, Forbes.com, 10 Apr. 2025 The International Energy Agency projects that, globally, the capacity of SMRs could reach 80 gigawatts by 2050. Greg Robinson, Forbes, 21 Mar. 2025 One gigawatt is enough to power at least 700,000 homes for a year. Ben Geman, Axios, 19 Mar. 2025 According to analyst Michael Elias, Microsoft walked away from the two data centers — which were expected to have more than 2 gigawatts of capacity — in the U.S. and Europe over the past six months. Hakyung Kim, CNBC, 26 Mar. 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 22 Apr. 2025.

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