Megawatt

The megawatt (symbol: MW) is a unit for measuring power corresponding to one million (10⁶) watts.

The productive capacity of electrical generators operated by utility companies are often measured in MW. Few things can sustain the transfer or consumption of energy on this scale; some of these events or entities include: lightning strikes, naval craft (such as aircraft carriers and submarines), engineering hardware, and some scientific research equipment (such as the supercollider and large lasers).

For reference about 10,000 100-watt lightbulbs or 2,000 computer systems would be needed to draw 1 megawatt. Also, 1 MW equals approximately 1341 Horsepower.

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the earliest citing for "megawatt" is a reference in the 1900 Webster's International Dictionary of English Language. The OED also says "megawatt" appeared in a 28 November 1947 article in Science (506:2).

See Orders of magnitude (power)