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How to Convert Megawatts to Kilowatts per Hour

The flow of electrical energy over time is measured in watts. One watt is a standard quantity of electric power, called a joule, flowing over a 1-second interval. We use metric prefixes to define larger measurements of power. A kilowatt is 1,000 watts; a megawatt is 1,000 kilowatts. Power companies use kilowatts per hour, or kilowatt hours, to measure the amount of electricity consumed by households and businesses. When electrical power flow is stated in megawatts, we can perform simple division to arrive at kilowatts per hour.

Things You'll Need

Calculator

Instructions

- 1
  Enter the number of megawatts per hour that you want to convert to kilowatts per hour on a calculator keypad. For example, if you want to know how many kilowatts per hour are equal to 5.5 megawatts per hour, enter "5.5."
- 2
  Press the "multiply by" key on the calculator. It is sometimes designated with an "x" or a "*" on the keypad. Enter the number "1,000" as the multiplier. This is how many kilowatts are in a megawatt.
- 3
  Press "Enter" or "=" on the calculator keypad. The equivalent number of kilowatts per hour displays on the readout. In this example, 5.5 megawatts per hour equals 5,500 kilowatts per hour.

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