Three clean energy projects in Cayuga County have received $1 million each in state funding under a round of grants announced this week.

The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority is awarding $15.5 million statewide for 32 projects. All of the projects involve the use of distributed generation and combined heat and power.

The projects should create new generating capacity, more than half of which will be powered by renewable fuels such as landfill or anaerobic digester gases. These projects will allow commercial, agricultural and industrial energy users to generate their own electricity.

Locally, the city of Auburn will receive $1 million for the development of a steam turbine powered by renewable fuel at the wastewater treatment plant, a project valued at $4.7 million.

The Cayuga County Soil and Water Conservation District's $3.3 million project to develop a community digester, a system of modules that can convert cow manure and food waste into methane gas and electricity, will also get $1 million from

NYSERDA.

In Union Springs, a $1 million NYSERDA grant will go toward a $17.1 million digester project that eventually would generate 15 megawatts of power.

Since 2001, the NYSERDA distributed generation and combined heat and power program has funded more than 150 projects.

"We have seen a tremendous amount of interest and an increase in the quality of proposals received under this program," said NYSERDA president Peter R. Smith in a press release.