UnitsUp to date · Jan 15, 2026
Gigawatt (GW)
One billion watts or 1,000 megawatts. Used to describe national energy capacity. The US has about 1,300 GW of total installed generating capacity.
Why It Matters
Policy discussions about the energy transition reference GW to describe how much solar, wind, or nuclear capacity is being added nationally.
Related Terms
Megawatt (MW)
One million watts, used to measure the capacity of power plants and utility-scale energy installations. A typical US home uses about 1.2 kW on average, so 1 MW can serve roughly 800 homes.
Capacity Factor
The ratio of actual energy produced by a system to its maximum potential output. Solar typically has a 15-25% capacity factor.