Suffolk hot on solar power, but can't find venue

Suffolk County government has a burning desire to install solar panels, but two attempts have come up empty.

Now the county is hoping a third attempt to power the proposed Fourth Precinct headquarters in Hauppauge will prove successful.

Suffolk originally wanted to use solar power on the H. Lee Dennison building in Hauppauge, the county's biggest office building and the county executive's seat, but found that the building's roof isn't suitable. A cluster of antennas already take up the majority of available space, said Mike Deering, commissioner of Suffolk's department of environment and energy.

The county then looked across the street, to the 85,000-square- foot Sidney B. Weinberg Forensic Sciences building, with plans to turn it into the largest solar-powered municipal facility on Long Island, at a cost of $600,000.

That facility, which houses the county morgue and the medical examiner's office, has plenty of space on the building's roof for...