megawatt

Megawatt (symbol MW) is a unit of power in the International System of Units (SI). It equals one million watts. A watt is one joule per second, so a megawatt is one million joules per second. The prefix mega- denotes a factor of one million.

In electrical contexts, the megawatt is used to express the output or consumption rate of large devices or power plants. Common subunits are kilowatts (kW) and watts (W). Because electrical grids require large-scale ratings, megawatts are used for capacity and production figures. A typical coal or nuclear power plant has a capacity of hundreds to thousands of MW. Solar and wind farms are often built in tens to hundreds of MW, with some projects exceeding 1,000 MW (1 GW) in capacity. To distinguish between electrical output and heat, the terms megawatt electrical (MWe) and megawatt thermal (MWth) are sometimes used.

Conversion: 1 MW = 1,000,000 W = 1,000 kW. In horsepower terms, 1 MW ≈ 1,341.22 horsepower (mechanical). The megawatt-hour (MWh) is an energy unit equal to one megawatt delivered for one hour, used to express energy production or consumption over time.

The megawatt is widely used in engineering, energy policy, and media to characterize the scale of power generation, transmission capacity, and industrial equipment.