Islamic Republic of Iran is to launch the largest solar power plant in the Middle East by the end of its Fifth Five-Year Socio-Economic and Cultural Development Plan running until 2015. Managing Director of Renewable Energy Organisation of Iran Yousef Armodeli noted that the pilot project has already been inaugurated which can currently generate 350 kilowatt of electricity per day. “If sufficient financial and credit resources are provided, installing the turbine and the steam generator will be possible,” the official added. The construction of Shiraz Solar Power Plant located in the South-eastern Province of Fars has started in 2000 and 80 percent of the technologies employed in this power plant are domestic. When put into full operation, it will be the first solar power plant in Iran and the largest in the Middle East.