AUBURN - While the Auburn Municipal Power Agency's explorations into becoming a municipal utility have garnered the bulk of attention, other alternative energy projects are continuing to progress.

On Wednesday, power agency members were presented with a preliminary assessment of feedstock relating to the city's regional digester project. The county and city cooperatively studied the feasibility of constructing a community digester through a New York State Energy Research and Development Authority grant.

The county has put the digester as a priority project and is already in the final design phase for their digester, which will be constructed on County House Road in Sennett.

A community digester would convert cow manure, food waste and other bio-waste materials into methane gas and electricity. That energy could be used to power areas like the nearby technology park, should the digester locate at the landfill, which has been discussed.

Auburn power agency chairman Steve Rich questioned the outcome of the preliminary assessment for the city done by ECO Technology Solutions, saying the assessment didn't seem to say much considering the amount of time the company had to put it together.

“I haven't really been pushing it because we had many other projects going on,” said Mike Long, director of projects and grants for the city.

Long said the intention of the study was to quantify the materials the city would have available, such as the number of cows available, should the city construct a community digester.

It may make the most sense to wait until the county's digester is up and running before looking to construct the city's digester, Long said, so that the city can take note of any glitches to avoid during its process.

“The county is out in front of this,” Long said.

Staff writer Anne Gleason can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 248 or anne.gleason@lee.net