The gigawatt (GW) is equal to one billion (109) watts or 1 gigawatt = 1000 megawatts. This unit is often used for large power plants or power grids. For example, by the end of 2010 power shortages in China's Shanxi province were expected to increase to 5–6 GW and the installed capacity of wind power in Germany was 25.8 GW. The largest unit (out of four) of the Belgian Doel Nuclear Power Station has a peak output of 1.04 GW. HVDC converters have been built with power ratings of up to 2 GW.
| Definition | Relation to SI units |
|---|---|
= 109 W |
| watt | microwatt | imperial ton of refrigeration | femtowatt | gigawatt | nanowatt | petawatt | picowatt |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 000 000 | 0.0002539 | 1.0 × 1015 | 1.0 × 10-9 | 1 000 000 000 | 1.0 × 10-15 | 1 000 000 000 000 |
| 1.0 × 10-6 | 1 | 2.5387959760084 × 10-10 | 1 000 000 000 | 1.0 × 10-15 | 1 000 | 1.0 × 10-21 | 1 000 000 |
| 3,938.875 | 3 938 875 000 | 1 | 3.938875 × 1018 | 3.938875 × 10-6 | 3 938 875 000 000 | 3.938875 × 10-12 | 3.938875 × 1015 |
| 1.0 × 10-15 | 1.0 × 10-9 | 2.5387959760084 × 10-19 | 1 | 1.0 × 10-24 | 1.0 × 10-6 | 1.0 × 10-30 | 0.001 |
| 1 000 000 000 | 1.0 × 1015 | 253,879.5976008 | 1.0 × 1024 | 1 | 1.0 × 1018 | 1.0 × 10-6 | 1.0 × 1021 |
| 1.0 × 10-9 | 0.001 | 2.5387959760084 × 10-13 | 1 000 000 | 1.0 × 10-18 | 1 | 1.0 × 10-24 | 1 000 |
| 1.0 × 1015 | 1.0 × 1021 | 253,879,597,600.84 | 1.0 × 1030 | 1 000 000 | 1.0 × 1024 | 1 | 1.0 × 1027 |
| 1.0 × 10-12 | 1.0 × 10-6 | 2.5387959760084 × 10-16 | 1 000 | 1.0 × 10-21 | 0.001 | 1.0 × 10-27 | 1 |
| Symbol | Definition |
|---|---|
| ≡ | exactly equal |
| ≈ | approximately equal to |
| = | equal to |
| digits | indicates that digits repeat infinitely (e.g. 8.294 369 corresponds to 8.294 369 369 369 369 …) |
| 1 gigawatts | = 1000000000 watts |
| 2 gigawatts | = 2000000000 watts |
| 3 gigawatts | = 3000000000 watts |
| 4 gigawatts | = 4000000000 watts |
| 5 gigawatts | = 5000000000 watts |