In 1 petawatts there are 1,000,000,000 megawatts. Meanwhile in 1 megawatts there are 1.00000e-9 petawatts. Keep reading to learn more about each unit of measure and how they are calculated. Or just use the Megawatts to Petawatts calculator above to convert any number.
* Values rounded to 6 decimal places for readability
To convert petawatts (PW) to megawatts (MW), use the SI power scale.
Since both are based on watts, divide the powers of ten:
Example:
Use this method any time you need a clear petawatt to megawatt conversion.
1 petawatt (PW) equals 1,000,000,000 megawatts (MW).
That’s because 1 PW is 10^15 watts and 1 MW is 10^6 watts, so PW to MW is 10^9.
Use this formula:
MW = PW × 1,000,000,000
To go the other way:
PW = MW ÷ 1,000,000,000
A petawatt is a very large unit of power. Power measures how fast energy is used or produced.
Petawatts show up in high-end science, like short bursts from powerful lasers.
A megawatt is a common unit of power for large systems.
Power plants, wind farms, and big motors often use megawatts.
The units are far apart on the metric scale.
A petawatt is 10^15 watts, and a megawatt is 10^6 watts.
That gap is 10^9, which is one billion.
Multiply by 1,000,000,000:
0.5 PW × 1,000,000,000 = 500,000,000 MW
Multiply by 1,000,000,000:
2 PW × 1,000,000,000 = 2,000,000,000 MW
Move the decimal 9 places to the right because the factor is 10^9.
Example: 1.23 PW becomes 1,230,000,000 MW.
Divide megawatts by 1,000,000,000:
PW = MW ÷ 1,000,000,000
Example: 750,000,000 MW ÷ 1,000,000,000 = 0.75 PW
Almost never. Power plants are usually rated in megawatts or gigawatts.
Petawatts are so large that they fit better with short, extreme lab bursts.
A petawatt measures power, not energy.
Power is the rate of energy use. Energy depends on time, like watt-hours or joules.
MW (megawatt) measures power at a moment in time.
MWh (megawatt-hour) measures energy over time.
A 100 MW source running for 2 hours produces 200 MWh of energy.
Common errors include:
1 PW equals 1,000,000,000 MW, which has 9 zeros.
The common steps go like this:
So petawatts are 1,000,000 times larger than terawatts, and 1,000,000,000 times larger than megawatts.
The Calculate Box tool to convert petawatts to megawatts uses the open source script Convert.js to convert units of measurement. To use this tool, simply type a petawatts value in the box and have it instantly converted to megawatts.