Some places in Cuban capital Havana saw the lights flicker back on though vast areas of the city and country continued without electricity on Sunday morning, after a nationwide grid collapse that knocked out power to 10 million people.
Havana´s electric company said on social media that approximately 19% of its clients in the city had seen power restored, but gave no estimate for full recovery.
Cuba´s energy and mines ministry said early on Sunday it had fired up its Felton power plant, one of the country´s largest and a major benchmark for restoring power in the eastern provinces. The country´s largest plant, Antonio Guinteras, in Matanzas, was not yet online, the ministry said.
In Havana and elsewhere, the clock was ticking for many residents who worry scarce stores of frozen foods could begin to spoil after around 36 hours without electricity.
Much of the city of two million people - densely populated and a major tourism center - has been without power since around 8:15 p.m. (0015 GMT) on Friday.
Only popular tourist hotels, a few restaurants, and homes and businesses with their own generators had kept the lights on.
Cuba's grid collapsed on Friday evening after a transmission line at a substation in Havana shorted, beginning a chain reaction that completely shut down power generation across the island.
Source: Reuters
Bd-pratidin English/Lutful Hoque
