Johannes Gleim Feb 22, 2013:

Inventory or evolution? "status" in Annual Report 2011 is mentioned several times:
"Task status report" (Do-Do List)
"Photovoltaic status and prospects in participating countries" (evolution)
Status is used correctly for these subjects, but this gives no hint, how to translate "status" in our context.

Nikki Scott-Despaigne Feb 21, 2013:

I think the difficulty here is rather with the meaning of "état" than with "parc". Last things first : "parc" here is being used to mean all of the installations, which can include "parks" and much smaller set-ups. Now for "état". I think it quite possible this term is being used to mean "inventory". What follows in the text may make this clear but not necessarily. You may need to check with the client but "state" implies condition rather more than the French does.

chris collister Feb 21, 2013:

precisely. So "state" or "status" is no longer required.

Jackie Doble (asker) Feb 21, 2013:

its all the PV panels covered by the state support mechanism. I don't think penetration is right, as that means 'how big or how many there are' so you can't have the 'state' of how many there are!

chris collister Feb 21, 2013:

It depends what they mean by "parc", ie whether they are referring to the total PV penetration in France to include domestic installations, barns built by farmers specifically for PV panels, quasi-industrial installations such as factories and schools, and/or industrial scale solar "parks" with multiple panels covering a large area. I doubt whether it would include garden lights, mind you....

Jackie Doble (asker) Feb 21, 2013:

Thanks Chris, I have never seen 'parc' used in English, but agree 'fleet' can be used for power stations (they do look a bit like ships!!) but cannot see it being used for PV power plants.. I must admit I don't like the idea of using parc, unless you can find a really good example!

chris collister Feb 21, 2013:

Parc is quite frequently used in EN, eg the private vehicle "parc" in the UK is x million, ditto nuclear power stations (though I have occasionally seen this as a "fleet". If you don't like "parc" you could also consider "penetration" as quite tech-sounding, and it avoids trying to decide whether to use "state" or "status"

Nikki Scott-Despaigne Feb 21, 2013:

Thanks.

Jackie Doble (asker) Feb 21, 2013:

it's just a bullet point, but here is a bit of the text around it, for what its worth!

L’Observatoire de l’Energie Solaire Photovoltaïque en France est une étude coproduite par le think tank France Territoire Solaireet le cabinet de conseil en stratégie et management Kurt Salmon.
Il a pour objectif de fournir des indicateurs clés sur le secteur photovoltaïque en France afin d’éclairer le débat public, notamment sur les aspects suivants :
Etat du parc photovoltaïque français
Marché résidentiel pré et post moratoire du 2 décembre 2010
Projets en file d’attente
Evolution des tarifs d’achat d’électricité en France et comparaison avec l’Allemagne et l’Italie

Enjoy!

Nikki Scott-Despaigne Feb 21, 2013:

If this were cars, then "parc" would be "fleet". This is not cars, so it's not fleet! Could you provide context so the run of the sentence provides inspiration?