The megawatt (MW) is equal to one million (106) watts. Many events or machines produce or sustain the conversion of energy on this scale, including large electric motors; large warships such as aircraft carriers, cruisers, and submarines; large server farms or data centers; and some scientific research equipment, such as supercolliders, and the output pulses of very large lasers. A large residential or commercial building may use several megawatts in electric power and heat. On railways, modern high-powered electric locomotives typically have a peak power output of 5 or 6 MW, although some produce much more. The Eurostar, for example, uses more than 12 MW, while heavy diesel-electric locomotives typically produce/use 3 to 5 MW. U.S. nuclear power plants have net summer capacities between about 500 and 1300 MW.
| Definition | Relation to SI units |
|---|---|
= 106 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 megawatts | = 1000000 watts |
| 2 megawatts | = 2000000 watts |
| 3 megawatts | = 3000000 watts |
| 4 megawatts | = 4000000 watts |
| 5 megawatts | = 5000000 watts |