The problem states that one megawatt operating for one hour produces one megawatt-hour. If the Texas projects together produce 4,952 MW continuously, how many megawatt-hours is that in 24 hours?

The total capacity for all 20 projects (11,037 MW) and the breakdown by state are not needed for this question. Focus only on Texas’s total capacity (4,952 MW) and the 24-hour time period.

In the Desmos expression line, type 4952*24. The output is the total number of megawatt-hours produced by the Texas projects in 24 hours at full capacity.

Look at the product that Desmos gives you and round it to a nearby simple number (to the nearest ten thousand). Then choose the answer option that is closest to this rounded value.

The question is only about the nine Texas wind projects.

• Their total power capacity (maximum rate) is $4{,}952$ megawatts (MW).
• They operate for $24$ hours.
• We want the total energy produced, in megawatt-hours (MWh).

Since $1$ MW running for $1$ hour produces $1$ MWh, total energy = (power in MW) × (time in hours).

Use the relationship

For the Texas projects:

Compute $4{,}952 \times 24$.

One way:

• $5{,}000 \times 24 = 120{,}000$
• The difference between $5{,}000$ and $4{,}952$ is $48$.
• So subtract $48 \times 24$ from $120{,}000$.

Then

So the nine Texas projects would produce $118{,}848$ megawatt-hours of energy if they ran at full capacity for 24 hours.

The answer choices are rough numbers, so we round $118{,}848$ to a nearby simple number.

• $118{,}848$ is very close to $120{,}000$ and much closer to $120{,}000$ than to $110{,}000$.

So the best approximation is 120,000 megawatt-hours, which corresponds to choice D.