Home/Tools/Energy, power & force
Megawatts to Kilowatts Converter
1 MW = 1,000 kW exactly. Type in either box.
—
A thousand kilowatts
Mega is a thousand times kilo, so a megawatt is a thousand kilowatts. The conversion is a decimal shift.
1 MW = 1,000 kW
The two units mark the boundary between building-scale and grid-scale power. A large office block might draw a few hundred kilowatts; a wind turbine produces several megawatts; a power station hundreds.
As with all power units, keep the distinction from energy in mind. A 100 MW station running for an hour produces 100 MWh of energy, not 100 MW of it.
The megawatt
A million watts. It is the unit of grid-scale generation: a large wind turbine is 3–15 MW, a gas power station a few hundred, a nuclear reactor around 1,000.
The kilowatt
A thousand watts, and the practical size for appliances, motors and vehicle engines outside the United States. A family car makes 75–150 kW.
Do not confuse it with the kilowatt-hour on an electricity bill. A kilowatt is a rate; a kilowatt-hour is an amount of energy — one kilowatt sustained for an hour, which is 3.6 megajoules.
The working, step by step
Every line updates with whatever you type above. The point is the method, which is the same for any pair of units in this family.
The same quantity, two different numbers
One physical amount, read off two scales. The tick marks do not line up, and the gap between them is the conversion factor made visible.
How much is that?
A number is easier to judge next to something familiar.
Your turn
Reading a method and being able to use it are different things. Answer within half a per cent and it counts as correct.
Score: 0 of 0
How to use this converter
- Type into either box. The other side updates as you go; there is no button to press.
- Swap the direction with the button between the boxes, carrying your value across.
- Set the decimals if the default is more or less precision than you need.
- Copy the answer with its unit, ready to paste.
- Use the shortcut buttons for the values that come up most often.
- Share the result. The address bar tracks what you type, so the link you copy opens on the same number.
Common uses and tips
Where this comes up
- Car specifications. European figures come in kW or PS, American ones in hp. The same engine gets three different numbers.
- Appliances and tools, rated in watts almost everywhere.
- Generators, motors and pumps, where catalogues mix kW and hp freely.
- Energy generation, where megawatts describe capacity.
The trap: which horsepower?
There are two in common use, and they differ by about 1.4 %.
- Mechanical (imperial) horsepower — 745.7 W. Watt's original figure, used in Britain and America.
- Metric horsepower, written PS or CV — 735.5 W. Standard in European car literature.
A car advertised at 200 PS is 197 hp. On these pages the switch under the boxes picks between the two.
Tips worth knowing
- Power is a rate. A 2 kW heater uses 2 kilowatt-hours of energy in an hour.
- Roughly, 1 kW is 1.34 hp and 1 hp is about three quarters of a kilowatt.
- Peak and continuous ratings differ. A motor's advertised figure is often peak, not what it will sustain.
Values people look up most
Each one opens the converter with the number already in it.
- 0.1 MW to kW
- 0.5 MW to kW
- 1 MW to kW
- 1.5 MW to kW
- 2 MW to kW
- 2.5 MW to kW
- 3 MW to kW
- 5 MW to kW
- 10 MW to kW
- 15 MW to kW
- 20 MW to kW
- 50 MW to kW
- 100 MW to kW
- 200 MW to kW
- 500 MW to kW
- 1,000 MW to kW
Quick reference
| Megawatts | Kilowatts |
|---|---|
| 0.1 MW | 100 kW |
| 0.5 MW | 500 kW |
| 1 MW | 1,000 kW |
| 2 MW | 2,000 kW |
| 5 MW | 5,000 kW |
| 10 MW | 10,000 kW |
| 50 MW | 50,000 kW |
| 100 MW | 100,000 kW |
| 1,000 MW | 1,000,000 kW |
Questions people ask
How many kW in a MW?
Exactly 1,000.
What is 2.5 MW in kW?
2,500 kW.
Is a megawatt-hour the same as a megawatt?
No. A megawatt is a rate of power; a megawatt-hour is an amount of energy — one megawatt sustained for an hour.