Staff Sergeant John Jamison said another three small power plants were expected to be repaired shortly and these would be used to fire-up the city's main electricity generating facilities.

"A significant chunk of the population will receive rolling power from grid to grid. It will be four hours here and six hours there," he said Thursday.

"We have to power up one small plant at a time and use that to get the larger electrical plants going. Hopefully, better than 50 percent of the population in Baghdad will have some power in 24 hours."

Baghdad has been without power since April 4 but Marine officials said they hoped to restore electricity to parts of the capital by Friday after bringing essential staff back to work.

Jamison said five city buses which were stolen during the looting that followed the ousting of Saddam Hussein had been returned and were now being used to ferry staff between home and the power plants.

"They've been very very cooperative thus far," he said in regards to the staff.

Marines have also delivered 15,000 gallons of diesel fuel for generators servicing water treatment plants in east Baghdad to increase the flow of water.

SPACE.WIRE