How much power does 1MW, 10MW and 100MW mean
What a megawatt figure comes to in energy, racks and accelerators, which kind of megawatt is being quoted, and what the arithmetic leaves out.
The short answer
A megawatt is a rate of power, not a size of building. Using the round assumptions on our 100MW calculator, 1MW of IT load comes to about 25 racks and 400 to 933 accelerators, 10MW is ten times that, and 100MW is a hundred times that. The result moves a lot if the assumptions change, and a quoted "MW" can mean three different things.
1. Say which megawatts
Before using any figure, find out what it measures. IT load is the power reaching servers, storage and network gear. Facility load adds cooling, power conversion and lighting. A grid connection is often quoted in MVA, and MW and MVA differ by the power factor. This site keeps those metrics apart and never adds them together.
2. 1MW, 10MW and 100MW of IT load
These rows use the calculator's default assumptions: PUE 1.3, 80% average load, 40kW of IT load per rack, 70% of IT load in accelerator servers, 8 accelerators per server and 6 to 14kW per server.
| Size | Facility load | Energy in a year | Racks | Accelerators |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1MW of IT load | 1.3 MW | 9.11 GWh | 25 | 400 to 933 |
| 10MW of IT load | 13 MW | 91.1 GWh | 250 | 4,000 to 9,333 |
| 100MW of IT load | 130 MW | 911 GWh | 2,500 | 40,000 to 93,333 |
The table scales in a straight line because the arithmetic does. Real sites do not: a 1MW room may be a few racks of dense AI servers or many racks of older equipment, and a 100MW campus may be built and energised in phases. Open any row to change the assumptions.
3. The same number, read three ways
If someone says "100MW", the answer depends on the metric. The table works through the same figure for each reading, with the same assumptions.
| Figure quoted (MW or MVA) | If it describes | IT load | Facility load | Accelerators |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | IT load | 1 MW | 1.3 MW | 400 to 933 |
| Facility load | 0.77 MW | 1 MW | 308 to 718 | |
| Grid connection in MVA | 0.73 MW | 0.95 MW | 292 to 682 | |
| 10 | IT load | 10 MW | 13 MW | 4,000 to 9,333 |
| Facility load | 7.69 MW | 10 MW | 3,077 to 7,179 | |
| Grid connection in MVA | 7.31 MW | 9.5 MW | 2,923 to 6,821 | |
| 100 | IT load | 100 MW | 130 MW | 40,000 to 93,333 |
| Facility load | 76.9 MW | 100 MW | 30,769 to 71,795 | |
| Grid connection in MVA | 73.1 MW | 95 MW | 29,231 to 68,205 |
For 100, the IT-load reading gives about 40,000 to 93,333 accelerators and the grid reading about 29,231 to 68,205. The gap comes only from the metric. Ask which one a project means, and see the data centre records, where each capacity figure carries its metric and stage.
4. What the numbers leave out
- Stage. Announced, permitted, under construction and operating are different claims. A grid connection offer is not a built site. See the interconnection queue and grid queue figures.
- Chips. Accelerators vary widely in power and speed. Counts here are not performance. An H100-equivalent figure from another source depends on its own method.
- Efficiency. PUE depends on how it is measured, see PUE. A PUE of 1.3 is our round assumption, not a typical value we have sourced.
- Load. Average load below 100% means annual energy is below the connection size multiplied by 8,760 hours.
- Cooling and density. Rack power is a choice. Our 40kW per rack is an assumption, and dense AI racks can be much higher or lower. See the sourced 800 VDC data centre power architecture record.
For a sense of scale against a published figure, our news page records that Australian Energy Market Operator reported data centres used about 5TWh in FY2026 in Australia's National Electricity Market (item dated 25 August 2026, source). The 100MW example above comes to about 0.91TWh a year. Those two numbers do not describe the same thing, so do not set one against the other as a like-for-like comparison.
5. Use it
- Work out your own figure with the calculator, which gives a link holding every assumption.
- Check a project against a place's rules with Can I build a data centre here? and read the guide.
- Prepare shared questions about local costs, participation and conditional benefits with the community evidence guide.
- Look up the terms in the glossary, and see how sites are recorded in data centre records and tools.
Sources
- Tools: the calculator holds the assumptions used here. They are our own round figures, not sourced facts about any real site or chip.
- Glossary: definitions, not sourced statistics.
- News: the AEMO item cites the operator's own document.
- Data centre records: sourced facts per site.
Built from facts already on this site, written on 3 October 2026 and due for review by 3 January 2027. Each fact keeps the check date shown on the page it comes from. This is general information, not advice. Something wrong? Tell us.