The Huntington Beach City School District and Chevron Energy are merging efforts to construct a 618 kilowatt solar system expected to power 30 percent of the southern California school district.

On Wednesday, the school district broke ground for the project that will see photovoltaic solar panels installed on three elementary and two middle schools, according to the school district. Construction will begin in November and continue through December.

"We're really excited," said Jon Archibald, school district spokesman. "It should take about six weeks to do the work. And then hopefully the sun will shine."

The solar panels should be in operation by January 1. They will pay for themselves in savings the school district gathers from energy generated and soon will provide at least a 15 percent reduction in utility costs.

The panels also will make environmental contributions, producing enough energy to reduce 1,200 metric tons of carbon emissions from the school districts. That would be roughly comparable to planting trees on at least 270 acres and pulling almost 250 cars off the road.