The electricity produced by the Bushehr nuclear power plant has joined the country’s energy grid as of late Saturday evening.

Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization (IAEO) further announced that the power plant is currently capable of producing 60 mgw of electricity.

"Last night at 11:29 pm local time (18:59 GMT), the Bushehr power plant was connected with 60 megawatts to the national grid," the organization's spokesman Hamid Khadem Qaemi, told Al-Alam television.

The Bushehr plant was started up in November 2010 but repeated technical problems delayed its operations, leading to the removal of its fuel rods last March.

"The capacity will gradually increase and it (is going through its) testing phase and on Shahrviar 21 (September 12) in a ceremony the power plant will reach its 40-percent capacity," Khadem Qaemi said.

Speaker of Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, Hamid Khadem Qaemi

The deputy atomic chief in charge of power plants, Mohammad Ahmadian, told state television the plant was expected to reach full capacity at "around the end of Aban or beginning of Azar (November)."

"But it is very important for us to take these final steps with utmost safety concerns in mind. We want to have guaranteed functional operation," Ahmadian added.

Meanwhile, Iran’s nuclear officials announced that the ceremony to officially inaugurate the power plant is to be held on September 12.

The Bushehr power plant is the first nuclear power plant in the Middle East region.

In mid-August, Iran's atomic organization chief Fereydoon Abbasi Davani said the plant was expected to reach "full capacity of 1,000 megawatts" in late November or early December.

Iran on Friday welcomed as a "step forward" an International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) report on its nuclear activities, saying it highlighted positive steps taken by Tehran towards "cooperation and transparency."