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German to English translations [PRO] Tech/Engineering - Energy / Power Generation / Solar panels
German term or phrase:Eigennutzungsanteil
Es geht um eine Solaranlage im privaten Haushalt; der durch die Solaranlage selbst erzeugte Strom wird direkt vor Ort genutzt und nicht ins öffentliche Stromnetz eingespeist.
Es gibt bestimmt einen Ausdruck dafür im Englischen, der vielleicht sogar kurz und elegant ist, ich komme aber nicht darauf.
Der ganze Satz lautet: Ein zusätzlicher bauseitiger Batteriespeicher erhöht den Eigennutzungsanteil und macht Sie unabhängiger vom Stromzukauf.
Explanation: The tariff is determined by the installation's size and the share of own consumption. If the installation operator consumes less than 30% of the solar electricity (...)
Asker probably switched off her e-mail notifications around midday on 29th May. No reason for us to stop debating good grammar, proper technical terminology and natural sentence structure.
What's done is done. I won't object if anyone uses the word, as there are (legitimate) sources to back it up, IMO. But it will depend on context and here, it may just sound as out of place as some of the other suggestions (see source document). One should just be aware that the term is limited in application.
Right, I am not against good-sounding sentences. I just think that Eigennutzungsanteil is a real term that shouldn't be dissolved in the advertising soup. It is the portion of the power that my solar panels generate that is actually used by me (on-site). The rest travels through the grid and is stored or used elsewhere. Terms were created to express this.
There's another issue, though. Just google the sentence...you'll find the source document. After reading the context that was missing, I think Lancashireman's version would've worked.
It's about the PV roof installation powering heat pumps. You might as well drop this part of the sentence entirely.
I see what you mean. However, the writer chose to use the clunky term "Eigennutzungsanteil" instead of "Eigennutzung" or the many word combinations that could have been used.
This appears to be a brochure selling batteries to householders who either already own solar panels or who are considering investment in such a product. As Phil says, you have to match the language to the reader.
When I was eight, we moved to a bigger house and I got my very own room and didn’t have to share with my sister any more.
Own: on my own
On my own, on your own, on our own, etc. mean ‘alone’ or ‘without help from another person’. They are less formal than alone. We can emphasise them by using all:
She lives on her own in a tiny flat. (alone)
Nobody helped him build his boat. He did it all on his own. (without help from anyone)
Typical error
We don’t use articles (a/an, the) before own:
As soon as teenagers reach the age of seventeen, they want their own car. They don’t want to depend on mum and dad any more.
Not: … they want the own car. or … they want an own car.
Own from English Grammar Today Own is a determiner and a pronoun.
Own emphasises that a thing belongs to a particular person, or was done by them. We always use a possessive form before own.
Own as a determiner
We can use own as a determiner after a possessive determiner (e.g. my, her, our) or after a possessive noun phrase with ’s:
I never sleep well in hotels. I always sleep best in my own bed at home.
That garden wall is all Jason’s own work. He spent several weekends building it.
Own as a pronoun
We can use own as a pronoun after a possessive determiner (e.g. my, his, their). We often use it in the pattern noun + of + possessive determiner + own:
This is my wife’s laptop. My own is being repaired.
Did you have a flat of your own when you were a student, or did you share? (...)
And this has absolutely nothing to do with "academic." You can argue from a customer's point of view, that's fine by me; but people in the industry will definitely understand what the term means. I've never said I liked it; but I cannot say it's wrong because it isn't.
This was merely one of several links from British pages (businesses etc.) further down and they all talk about "self-consumption." The BPVA link was to show that it's not going to be edited before publication, but here's a Guardian one, just for you, from the British-based Solar Trade Association: "However we are confident that solar can still provide an attractive investment in certain circumstances and that the market will recalibrate by selling solar as a package with other smart cutting edge technology to increase self-consumption of the solar electricity.” https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/apr/08/solar-in...
The presence of the second person pronoun indicates that this text is to be read by the householder. It is not an academic treatise written by Germans and self-translated (ha ha) into English. It should be phrased appropriately in terms that a lay person can understand and be persuaded by.
We both posted several US and UK references throughout the discussion. The term likely came from a German or economics term. My point is that it's been around AND being currently used. Again from Apr 2017 issue of real US magazine that still prints: https://www.homepower.com/articles/solar-electricity/design-...
The term "self-consumption" has been used in this context since at least 2010: http://www.sma.de/en/partners/knowledgebase/the-self-consump... . "Conclusion: Self-consumption is becoming increasingly important... The fact is that self-consumption has become an important criterion for planning and designing solar power systems in Germany and has a significant effect on their return on investment."
@Lancashireman I think the "self" is needed, since it is a selfish thing to grab as much of the the solar energy from your panels before it goes into the community/company grid for general consumption ;) @JackMark I agree that the separate terms "self consumption" and "self-consumption ratio" should be used for book-keeping, but "self-consumption" with a suspiciously unnecessary hyphen is being currently applied to mean the percentage used, probably a shortening of "self-consumption ratio" or similar terms. @Everyone I don't like Google search because of their skewing of results to show you what you want to see. The Kudoz discussion on "Eigennutzung" was from over a year ago, and leading terminology might have changed in this growing field. Two USA references from 2017 refer to "self-consumption" ("self-supply" in Hawaii), neither of which sounds funny in context: https://www.homepower.com/articles/solar-electricity/design-... ; https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/pages/energy-and-resources/a...
How are you planning to fit self-consumption ratio
13:16 May 29, 2017
...into your sentence while retaining a marketing style that will appeal to an EN reader? The addition of a battery can increase the availability of electricity you generate and make you less dependent on your supplier.
"Self-consumption ratio" was apparently what I was looking for. It may not be the most elegant construction ever, but if that's what is being used, so be it.
Is this text intended to win over householders with attractive prose (elegant) or to be a word-for-word translation of the German (kurz)? I don't think you're going to sell many Batteriespeicher without turning that concise German noun (Eigennutzungsanteil) into an English verb construction.
@Karolin and Jack You can't search for the term like this. First, you'd have to limit your search to UK or US pages. Second, the Ghit number is not accurate (had a long post about this once). Third, your search will include every instance of a possessive pronoun as well because you did not specifically exclude that.
As said below, except for shorthand/title descriptions, this isn't the right way to go about it.
Karolin, dictionaries are known to have errors....:) :) just kidding, like i said, both "own" or "self" would work, but then things complicate when we try to stick "share" or "ratio in it as here, in this phrase:
""share of own (electricity) consumption"
is a bit confusing, as it may be understood as "part of the self-consumed electricity."
Then, to solve it, we would need to use the word "generated" as in "share of generated electricity" to clarify it...and then becomes even longer...
All genuine UK links; "on-site use" is the alternative. Don't shoot the messenger. I'm not making the rules or making this up. But it's good to note that this question had already been discussed.
@Jack Everything's fine and we don't disagree. I said: "typically you need a preceding possessive." Your example includes "their" - which is one. "own consumption" doesn't work well.
I gave up on bilingual dictionaries a long time ago.
OK, it is not as if we (I slightly disagree with Björn's here) that we cannot use "share of energy generation for their own use" for example...and I can find many links with this or similar term.
Let's not beat the dead horse, let the asker decide - and I am waiting for Bjorn answer - should he choose to enter his suggestion here, then I'll delete my entry here. Like I said, I didn't see his first entry in the discussion below...
Bizarre or not, I'd like to point out that "self-consumption" is often used in economics as well...I guess I missed the part who suggested it in this thread first, I admit I didn't read the whole discussion before posting...I see, so should I delete my entry so that Bjorn may enter his?
"I'm not taking credit for 'self-consumption' since it was based on looking at everyone else's answers"
Well, you shouldn't - I entered my disc. post around the same time as Karolin posted her answer (just teasing). As said, I am entirely comfortable with your suggestion.
Just to clarify, if there is a talk about a formula or percentage, I'd use the word "ratio" and hence I have specifically included it (-anteil) . Otherwise, should the the text discuss certain part of energy generation that is consumed by the producer themselves, even if expressed in units like KWH, I'd drop it.
Wasn't meant mean or anything. I work in a related field and I can tell you that there are a lot of really, really bad translations out there, so I'd be very wary of translated pages from a business based in the German-speaking region (yes, that includes you, Austria!).
I think herbalchemist has a point. You don't really need anything to it. I am not very fond of ratio either. Typically, this is what you call a ratio: 12:1.
What you said is also true for "ratio," though. I am not very enamored with all these non-ENS references that are part of the answers (except for Mack's).
In the second link, they say "level"; in the third, "proportion." No, you don't need it, but you may use "share"/"proportion" instead of repeating the word or when combined with a percentage.
The main point is that I'd stay away from "own"; there are very few instances in English (e.g., own label) where "own" is on its own (pardon the pun), but typically you need a preceding possessive. We've had an EN-EN discussion about that, but I can't find it right now. It will just be a dead giveaway that the page has been translated.
Explanation: Maybe this is a possible anser: The amount of power your site uses. Load may be expressed in kilowatts (capacity) or kilowatt-hours (energy). A site's peak kilowatts generally refers to when electric demand requirements are highest. Second source: Load: The electric power used by devices connected to an electrical generating system. The amount of electric power required to meet customers' use in a given time period. The amount of electric power delivered or required at any specific point or points on a system. The requirement originates at the energy-consuming equipment of the consumers.
Explanation: The tariff is determined by the installation's size and the share of own consumption. If the installation operator consumes less than 30% of the solar electricity (...)
