The US federal government has announced US$19m in loans to electric co-ops in Iowa to improve the state’s rural grid.
The Rural Development office of the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) is loaning Butler County Rural Electric Cooperative $8m to upgrade its electrical distribution system.
This 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.
There will also be 9.5 miles of new consumer lines and 146.4 miles of line improvements.
Formed in 1936, the co-op serves about 5,000 members across seven counties in the east of the state – Bremer, Butler, Cerro Gordo, Chickasaw, Fayette, Floyd and Franklin.
The USDA also is lending £11m to Southwest Iowa Rural Electric Cooperative, to finance conversion and line changes, substation, switching station, metering line changes, and distribution equipment.
The co-op serves 6,000 members in Adair, Adams, Cass, Decatur, Fremont, Mills, Montgomery, Page, Ringgold, Taylor and Union counties.
“At USDA, we are on a mission to improve the reliability and the affordability of our shared electrical infrastructure,” said Michael Sexton, USDA rural development state director for Iowa. “USDA is using its capital to upgrade and expand Iowa’s power grid to boost economic productivity and to make life better for us.”
