Convert Megawatt to Foot-Pound per Second (MW → ft·lbf/s)

The megawatt rates power plants, large industrial facilities, and grid-scale renewable installations worldwide.

Megawatt

Foot-Pound per Second

737,562.15

1 MW737,562.15 ft·lbf/sNIST · BIPM accuracy

Megawatt to Foot-Pound per Second Conversion Table

10 common values

Megawatt	Foot-Pound per Second
1 MW	737,562.15 ft·lbf/s
5 MW	3,687,810.7 ft·lbf/s
10 MW	7,375,621.5 ft·lbf/s
50 MW	36,878,107 ft·lbf/s
100 MW	73,756,215 ft·lbf/s
500 MW	368,781,070 ft·lbf/s
1,000 MW	737,562,150 ft·lbf/s
5,000 MW	3,687,810,700 ft·lbf/s
10,000 MW	7,375,621,500 ft·lbf/s
50,000 MW	36,878,107,000 ft·lbf/s

How to Convert Megawatt to Foot-Pound per Second Manually

Step by Step

Converting megawatts to foot-pounds per second is straightforward: multiply by the conversion factor. Follow these three steps to do it by hand or in your head.

1
Take your value in megawatts
Start with the number of megawatts (MW) you want to convert.
2
Multiply by 737,562.15
The conversion factor from MW to ft·lbf/s is 737,562.15. Multiply your value by this number.
3
Read the result in foot-pounds per second
The result is your value in foot-pounds per second (ft·lbf/s).

Practical Examples

1 MW

equals

737,562.15 ft·lbf/s

5 MW

equals

3,687,810.7 ft·lbf/s

10 MW

equals

7,375,621.5 ft·lbf/s

25 MW

equals

18,439,054 ft·lbf/s

100 MW

equals

73,756,215 ft·lbf/s

Formula

Multiply the value in megawatts by 737,562.15. For the reverse direction, multiply by 0.000001356.

Forwardft·lbf/s = MW × 737,562.15

ReverseMW = ft·lbf/s × 0.000001356

Example: 10 MW × 737,562.15 = 7,375,621.5 ft·lbf/s

Tips

Use these in everyday conversions

1 MW = 1000 kW = 1,000,000 W.
GW (gigawatt) = 1000 MW for country-scale generation.
For energy output, multiply MW × hours = MWh.

Common Mistakes

Avoid these

Confusing MW (power) with MWh (energy).
Using kW for large generation — numbers become unwieldy.
Mixing installed capacity (MW) with actual output (which depends on use).

About Megawatt and Foot-Pound per Second

What is the Megawatt?

The megawatt equals 1,000,000 watts (or 1,000 kW) and rates power plants, large industrial facilities, and grid-scale renewable installations worldwide. A typical natural-gas turbine generates 50–500 MW, a nuclear reactor produces 800–1,600 MW, and the largest hydroelectric plant (Three Gorges Dam in China) has 22,500 MW capacity. Wind turbines are rated 1.5–15 MW each (modern offshore turbines reach 14 MW). Solar farms range from 50 MW (small) to 1,500+ MW (large utility-scale projects). Electric grid demand for entire countries is measured in gigawatts (1 GW = 1,000 MW): the United States peaks at about 750 GW. The megawatt relates to the kilowatt (1,000 kW = 1 MW), the gigawatt (1,000 MW = 1 GW), and the megawatt-hour (when multiplied by time). Electricity wholesale markets bid in MW capacity and MWh energy.

Power-station electrical output
Wind and solar farm capacity
Large industrial electricity consumption

Real-world examples

Large wind turbine: 5–15 MW. Nuclear reactor: 1000 MW. London's peak demand: ~6000 MW.

What is the Foot-Pound per Second?

The foot-pound per second (ft·lb/s) is the American mechanical-power unit, used in engineering and machine-rating contexts. James Watt's original definition of 1 horsepower was 33,000 ft·lb/min = 550 ft·lb/s, so the foot-pound per second is the granular American power unit underlying horsepower calculations. It is rare in everyday use (kW or hp dominate American power specifications) but appears in engineering thermodynamics textbooks, mechanical-design calculations, and ballistics-energy contexts. The ft·lb/s relates to the watt (1 ft·lb/s ≈ 1.356 W), horsepower (550 ft·lb/s = 1 hp), and the BTU per hour (1 ft·lb/s ≈ 4.626 BTU/h). It is part of the legacy US customary unit system that retains a foothold in mechanical engineering despite metric advancement.