What Is a Megawatt? Megawatt-Hours & Conversions: Explained (2023)
Here are a few questions we’ll answer in this article:
- What is a megawatt?
- How do I convert megawatts to kilowatts?
- What can one megawatt power?
- How do megawatts connect to global climate goals?
- How much space is needed to produce a megawatt of solar energy?
What Is a Megawatt?
A watt (W) is a unit of power, which is the rate at which energy is produced or consumed. A 100-watt light bulb needs a flow of 100 watts of electricity in order to work. A 60-watt light bulb needs a flow of only 60 watts to work.
A single watt is a very small unit. Since households typically require thousands of watts to run, when talking about energy use, it’s easier to use larger units like kilowatts (1,000 watts) and megawatts (1,000 kilowatts).
On your electricity bill, you’ll typically see how many kilowatt-hours you consumed in a month. A watt-hour is a unit of measurement for energy. A kilowatt-hour equates to the energy consumption of a kilowatt of power for one hour.
A megawatt is 1,000,000 watts of power — a thousand times larger than a kilowatt. Megawatts are typically used to describe power capacities on large scales, such as those of nuclear power plants or the amount of energy required to power a city.
A megawatt is not the largest measure of power. After megawatts come gigawatts — equal to one billion watts. Gigawatts are used to describe amounts of power such as those generated by entire nations.
SunPower
Pros
- Most efficient panels on the market
- National coverage
- Cradle to Cradle sustainability certification
- Great warranty coverage
Cons
- Expensive
- Customer service varies by local dealer
SunPower designs and installs industry-leading residential solar and storage solutions across all 50 states. With a storied history of innovation dating back to 1985, no other company on this list can match SunPower’s experience and expertise.
SunPower earns its position as the top national installer on our list for a handful of reasons: It installs the most efficient solar technology on the residential market, offers the most expansive service area and backs its installations with a warranty well above the industry standard. All the while, SunPower pioneers sustainability efforts within the industry.
If that weren’t enough, SunPower systems come packaged with products all manufactured in-house by its sister company, Maxeon. This means that your panels, solar cells, inverters, battery and EV chargers are designed to work together and are all covered under the same warranty.
SunPower’s biggest downside? Its high-efficiency panels are considerably more expensive than most of its competitors’ products. However, its powerful panels are workhorses that make up for the initial cost with more backend production (think about this like spending more money for a car that gets more miles per gallon).
Facts and Figures: SunPower
EcoWatch Rating |
---|
Better Business Bureau (BBB) Rating |
Year Founded |
Average Cost ($-$$$$$) |
Solar Services |
Brands of Solar Equipment Offered |
Warranty Coverage |
5 |
A+ |
1985 |
$$$$ |
Solar Panels, Solar Batteries, EV Chargers, System Monitoring |
SunPower Panels |
25-year all-inclusive warranty |
Blue Raven Solar
Pros
- Industry-leading in-house financing
- Competitive pricing
- Excellent reputation
Cons
- Doesn't offer solar batteries (coming 2022)
We like Blue Raven Solar because it understands that, for most homeowners, the cost of solar presents the biggest barrier to entry.
For that reason, Blue Raven Solar developed an innovative solar financing plan that offers in-house, flexible, zero-money-down options. The results speak for themselves, as Blue Raven Solar is now one of the fastest-growing solar companies in the nation and was recently acquired by SunPower. Its BluePower Plus+ plan (exclusive to Blue Raven) mimics the flexible structure of a lease while still providing the greatest benefits of owning your system.
Eligible homeowners enjoy 18 months of solar power before having to pay their first bill. When coupled with the federal solar investment tax credit (ITC), the initial energy savings can offset more than a third of the overall cost of a system before requiring a dollar down.
In contrast, other installers can only offer similar financing through solar leases, PPAs or third-party providers (such as Mosaic or Sunlight). Third-party loan providers can complicate the process, while opting for a loan or PPA will disqualify you from some of solar’s biggest benefits (additional property value, federal solar tax credit and local solar incentives).
Facts and Figures: Blue Raven Solar
EcoWatch Rating |
---|
Better Business Bureau (BBB) Rating |
Year Founded |
Average Cost ($-$$$$$) |
Solar Services |
Brands of Solar Equipment Offered |
Warranty Coverage |
4.5 |
A+ |
2014 |
$$ |
Solar Panels, System Monitoring |
Trina Solar, Canadian Solar, SolarEdge, Silfab, SunPower |
25-year manufacturer warranty; 10-year workmanship warranty, 2-year production guarantee |
ADT Solar
Pros
- Industry-leading warranty coverage
- Expansive service area
Cons
- Some reported communication issues
- No leases or PPAs
ADT Solar sets the industry standard for warranty coverage by including a multifaceted guarantee, making it one of the top installers for homeowners who want added peace of mind.
Its warranty coverage includes all of the following for 25 years:
- Power Production Guarantee: Also known as a performance guarantee, this ensures your solar system will produce the amount of electricity that’s outlined in your proposal, or ADT will write you a check for the difference.
- Labor Guarantee: This covers any issues with the installation of your system and is also known as a workmanship warranty.
- Panel Module Performance Guarantee: This is what ADT Solar refers to the manufacturer warranty as, and it ensures that any manufacturing defects are repaired or your ineffective panels replaced.
- Enphase Microinverters Guarantee: This backs the performance of your inverters.
Though in recent years other solar companies have started to offer similar guarantees, ADT Solar has been at it since 2008, performing over 30,000 installations across the country.
Facts and Figures: ADT Solar
EcoWatch Rating |
---|
Better Business Bureau (BBB) Rating |
Year Founded |
Average Cost ($-$$$$$) |
Solar Services |
Brands of Solar Equipment Offered |
Warranty Coverage |
4 |
A- |
2008 |
$$$ |
Solar Panels, Solar Batteries, EV Chargers, Energy-Efficiency Upgrades |
Silfab, Panasonic and others depending on location |
25-year all-inclusive warranty |
Kilowatt to Megawatt Conversion Table
As we just discussed, one megawatt is equal to one million watts or 1,000 kilowatts. Since all solar panel system sizes are described in kilowatts, here is a quick table to help you with the conversions:
Kilowatt (kW) | Megawatt (MW) |
10 kW | 0.01 MW |
100 kW | 0.1 MW |
1,000 kW | 1 MW |
5,000 kW | 5 MW |
10,000 kW | 10 MW |
15,000 kW | 15 MW |
20,000 kW | 20 MW |
50,000 kW | 50 MW |
1,000,000 kW | 1,000 MW |
How to Convert Megawatts to Kilowatts
Luckily, you do not need a math degree to convert megawatts to kilowatts. The conversion is easy — just multiply the number of megawatts by 1,000.
Number of megawatts x 1,000 = Number of kilowatts
Here’s how to find how many kilowatts are in 5 megawatts:
5 MW x 1,000 = 5,000 kW
If you are converting kilowatts to megawatts, you just have to divide the number of kilowatts by 1,000.
Number of kilowatts ÷ 1,000 = Number of megawatts
Here’s how to find how many megawatts are in 50,000 kilowatts:
50,000 kW ÷ 1,000 = 50 MW
What Can One Megawatt Power?
A megawatt measures power on a large scale, so one megawatt can power a lot more than one household. The megawatt is the standard term of measurement for bulk electricity.1
The capacity of small solar facilities is measured in kilowatts, so one one-thousandth of a megawatt. The nine largest solar plants in the world measure their outputs in thousands of megawatts (all are in India, China, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt). Numbers 10-20 on the list of the world’s top 20 largest solar plants measure their output in the hundreds of megawatts — four of these are in the U.S.2
According to one source, on average, 1 megawatt of solar power generates enough electricity to power 164 U.S. homes.3 So, 100 megawatts of solar power can power 16,400 U.S. homes.
A single megawatt-hour can power the following:
- 1.2 months of electricity for an average American home
- 3,600 miles driven by an electric car
- 2 refrigerators run for a year
- 2 60-watt light bulbs run continuously for a year
Megawatts and Climate Goals
Global installed capacity for renewable power generation in 2019 was 2,537 GW (or 2,523,000 megawatts).4 Commitment to implementing renewable energy is a critical part of Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) — the pledges nations make to reduce greenhouse gas emissions under the Paris Agreement. As of December 2020, 90% of the Paris Agreement signatory nations had submitted their NDCs, and 71% of the 90% (134 parties) included quantified renewable energy targets for electricity generation.5
Here’s a quick explanation of NDCs:
If all renewable energy targets for the power sector that are included in NDCs were to be implemented, global installed capacity for renewable power generation would increase by 42% (from 2,523 to 3,564 GW) by 2030.
The U.S. submitted a new NDC when it rejoined the Paris Agreement in 2021. It set an economy-wide target of reducing U.S. net greenhouse gas emissions by 50-52% below 2005 levels by 2030 — and included a goal to reach 100% carbon pollution-free electricity by 2035. Solar installation and generation are playing a critical role in reaching this goal.6
How Much Space Is Needed to Produce a Megawatt of Solar Energy?
As of 2021, the U.S. had enough installed solar capacity (121.4 gigawatts direct current — GWdc) to power 23.3 million homes.7 However, as with other power sources such as fossil-fueled power plants, the full capacity is rarely, if ever, being generated because full-capacity operating conditions are rarely present. Factors that influence solar capacity include:
- Location of the panels
- How much sunlight the panels receive
- What direction the panels face
- The temperature and climate of the area
- The type of solar cell used (monocrystalline or polycrystalline)
Generating one megawatt of solar energy requires five to 10 acres of space for solar panel placement. So, to supply all of the U.S.’s energy needs (not just homes but commercial, industrial, institutional and governmental needs) with solar would require much, much more space and many, many more solar panels and associated infrastructure. That’s one reason why other sources of clean and renewable energy are critical.
The average household isn’t able to install a solar energy system that has a power output as high as 1 MW. But it’s becoming increasingly popular for homeowners to buy into community solar electric power projects, which can have high energy outputs that are split among members.
If you’re looking to contribute to clean energy production by going solar, you can click below to get started with an EcoWatch-vetted installer.
Comparing authorized solar partners
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- Most efficient panels on the market
- National coverage
- Cradle to Cradle sustainability certification
- Great warranty coverage
- Expensive
- Customer service varies by local dealer
A+Best National Provider1985SunPower Panels25-year all-inclusive warranty
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