When we talk about solar or wind energy, and projects that use this type of renewable energy, we always refer to energy measurements that are common in the field: kilowatt-hours or megawatts of power. Many people have doubts about how many kilowatts is a megawatt.
For this reason, we are going to dedicate this article to tell you how many kilowatts are a megawatt, what characteristics they have and if this influences the electricity bill.
What is a kilowatt-hour or megawatt of power?
Many times we are asked how to measure how much a home consumes, how to measure the power of a solar plant or a wind farm, That is why we are going to carry out a tutorial to solve these doubts.
Before understanding or explaining in detail what a kilowatt-hour or megawatt of power is, we must first explain what this unit of energy or power consists of.
Watt (W) is a unit of power, which is the frequency at which energy is produced or consumed. Watts can be thought of as a unit of measurement for electrical current. Does the electrical equipment require high or low flow to operate? For example, a 100 W bulb uses more energy than a 60 W bulb; this means that the 100W bulb needs more "flux" to work. Likewise, the frequency at which power from the solar system “flows” into your home is measured in watts.
In this way, watts or watts can be used to measure both the power of a certain electrical device and the energy it consumes or develops in the case of renewable energy sources. If you consume a lot, the unit of measurement is the kilowatt, which is equal to one kilowatt. If it is greater, it will be in megawatts, that is, one million watts or one thousand kilowatts.
Kilowatt-hours and its importance
To this must also be added the concept of kilowatt-hours, which, in the context of energy measurement, is a measure of the amount of work done or produced in one hour. Any appliances and other electronic devices in our homes require electricity to function.
For this reason, when we plug them in or connect them from the company or electricity company, the charges they incur will begin to be calculated and we will see the bills arrive at the end of the month, they are charged in kilowatt-hours (kWh), a unit of measurement that, as we say, is equivalent to 1000 watt hours.
Also, knowing what a kilowatt-hour is, we can also distinguish the power of some household appliances. For example, a 1000-watt (1 kilowatt) microwave will heat food much faster than a 600-watt microwave. Due to this relationship between capacity and time, We use the terms watt-hour (Wh) or kilowatt-hour (kWh) to describe energy use.
Watt hours and kilowatt hours define the amount of work done or energy used in one hour. A simple analogy is that speed is a measure that defines the distance traveled over a period of time, while energy is a measure that defines the power used over a period of time. Using the same 1000-watt (1 kW) microwave for one hour consumes up to 1 kilowatt-hour (kWh) of energy.
kWh meters in homes
In all buildings we can find energy meters (also called electricity meters) and in these meters there is always an energy reading in kWh.
A kilowatt-hour meter is an electrical meter that measures electrical energy consumed in a home in kilowatt-hours. A kilowatt-hour meter has a display that calculates units of kilowatt-hours (kWh). Energy consumption is calculated by calculating the difference in meter readings over a specified period of time.
The cost of electricity is calculated by multiplying the cost of 1 kWh by the number of kWh consumed. For example, the cost of electricity for consuming 900kWh per month is 10 cents per 1kWh: 900kWh x 10 cents = 9000 cents = 90 euros. The energy consumption of the house is approximately in the range of 1.500 kWh per month or 5 kWh per day. It depends on the weather that affects heating or cooling requirements and the number of people living in the home.
How many kilowatts is a megawatt?
Kilowatt-hours refer to different amounts of the same thing: energy. The next step up from kilowatts is megawatts of power. 1 megawatt equals 1000 kilowatts or 1 million watts, and the same conversion applies to megawatt-hours and kilowatt-hours. So if a 1000-watt (1 kW) microwave oven runs continuously for 41,6 days, it will consume up to 1 megawatt-hour of energy (1000 watts/24 hours per day = 41,6 days).
To truly understand kWh and MWh, it's important to understand the context in which these metrics are used. For example, any average home uses approximately 11,000 kWh of energy per year, so using this information we can estimate energy use of approximately 915 kWh per month (or more as noted above), and an average daily energy use of about 30 kWh in any first world country house.
When talking about residential energy use, it's more common to use kilowatt-hours. Your monthly energy bill will report your usage using this metric, and when you evaluate energy upgrades, such as solar installations, the company will discuss how many kW your system needs to meet your kWh needs.
By contrast, MWh is often used to refer to the use of electricity on a large scale.such as the construction of a new power plant or the initiation of an energy upgrade throughout a town or city. In one of these scenarios where large-scale energy use is discussed, the term of choice will be megawatt-hour or even gigawatt-hour (GWh), referring to one gigawatt of power.
As you can see, these energy measures are essential to assess energy expenditure in the production of renewable energy. I hope that with this information you can know more about how many kilowatts is a megawatt.