Google headquarters to run on solar power

Google is converting its headquarters to run partly on solar power.

Google announced the solar project undertaken during a solar energy conference in Silicon Valley yesterday. Google believes the sun eventually can deliver as much as 30% of the power at its 1-million sq ft campus in Mountain View near San Francisco.

The project will require installing more than 9,200 solar panels on a high-tech mecca nicknamed the "Googleplex".

Once they are in place next spring, the solar panels are expected to produce about 1.6 megawatts of electricity, or enough power to supply about 1,000 homes.

Google didn't disclose the project's cost.

The anticipated savings from future energy bills should enable Google to recoup the solar project's costs in five to 10 years, estimated David Radcliffe, the company's vice president of real estate.