million BTU per megawatt-hour
Heat rateexact by definition
One million BTU of fuel heat for each megawatt-hour of electricity sent out, equal to 1,000 BTU/kWh. It is the unit in which United States electricity markets and fuel-price studies write heat rates, because natural gas is priced per million BTU and power per megawatt-hour, so cost per MWh is just heat rate times fuel price.
| 1 | 1,055.0559 |
Gas is bought by the million BTU (MMBTU) and power sold by the megawatt-hour, so the heat rate in MMBTU/MWh multiplies straight through by a gas price in dollars per MMBTU to give the fuel cost of each megawatt-hour. A combined-cycle plant near 7 MMBTU/MWh burning gas at 3 dollars per MMBTU spends about 21 dollars of fuel on each megawatt-hour.
One million btu per megawatt-hour in every heat rate unit
| 1,055.06 | kilojoule per kilowatt-hour (kJ/kWh) | |
| 1,055.06 | megajoule per megawatt-hour (MJ/MWh) | |
| 1,000 | BTU per kilowatt-hour (BTU/kWh) | |
| 1 | million BTU per megawatt-hour (MMBTU/MWh)this unit | |
| 0.293071 | joule of heat per joule of electricity (J/J) |
Cite this page
formula.expert. (2026, October 30). Million BTU per megawatt-hour (MMBTU/MWh): definition & conversion. https://formula.expert/units/million-btu-per-megawatt-hour