(Des Moines, Iowa, February 24, 2026) – U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development’s Iowa State Director Michael Sexton today announced that the agency is awarding a total of $19 million for two projects to improve electric infrastructure in Iowa. In southwest Iowa, Southwest Iowa Rural Electric Cooperative received an $11 million loan through the Electric Infrastructure Loan and Loan Guarantee Program. The project will finance conversion and line changes, substation, switching station, metering line changes, and distribution equipment. Southwest Iowa Rural Electric Cooperative is a non-profit, member-owned electric utility and serves the needs of approximately 6,000 members with over 2,500 miles of energized line in Adair, Adams, Cass, Decatur, Fremont, Mills, Montgomery, Page, Ringgold, Taylor, and Union counties.

In northeastern Iowa, the Butler County Rural Electric Cooperative received an $8 million loan through the Electric Infrastructure Loan and Loan Guarantee Program. The project will finance distribution facilities and improvements including new underground and overhead connections, tie-lines, line conversions, transformers and meters, service changes, line sectionalizing equipment, line regulators, pole replacements, as well as security lights. The project will include 9.5 miles of new consumer lines and 146.4 miles of line improvements. Butler County Rural Electric Cooperative is a member-owned electric utility that has been active since December 24,1936. The co-op serves over 5,000 customers with 1,864 energized miles throughout seven counties in the eastern part of Iowa, including Bremer, Butler, Cerro Gordo, Chickasaw, Fayette, Floyd, and Franklin.

“At USDA, we are on a mission to improve the reliability and the affordability of our shared electrical infrastructure,” said Sexton. “Under the leadership of President Trump and Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, USDA is using its capital to upgrade and expand Iowa’s power grid to boost economic productivity and to make life better for us.”