Abstarct: This thesis presents the development planning of a virtual power plant designed to augment profits from energy sales to both domestic and foreign consumers within the Iranian electricity market. The proposed model is first baxsed on the economic conditions prevailing in Iran (energy tariffs including government subsidies) and then removing subsidies in the presence of distributed energy sources and responding to demand. Recent years have witnessed a heightened focus on economic and environmental challenges associated with centralized power plants, prompting the prioritization of creating a platform to entice private sector investment in energy resources located proximal to end consumers. A pivotal aspect in virtual power plant planning is the mitigation of peak loads. Therefore, considering the high consumption of energy during peak hours and the high tariff of energy prices during these hours, creating a platform to shift load from peak hours to non-peak hours can reduce the peak load and also reduce the electricity bill costs of consumers. Consequently, the virtual power plant, with its focus on programs catering to consumer demands and energy production sources, establishes demand response initiatives that incentivize and promote reduced energy consumption during peak hours. This strategy aims to decrease peak consumption, utilizing differences in energy tariffs by shifting loads from peak to non-peak periods, ultimately reducing consumer costs. Also, in this thesis, investing in distributed energy resources is done by considering demand response programs in a virtual power plant with the aim of increasing the profit from selling energy to consumers and exchanging energy with the upstream network. Electric vehicles are also considered as consumers in the network. The study implements its proposed methodology on a 14-bus network encompassing diverse domestic, commercial, and industrial applicants. The results of deterministic planning show that in the economic conditions prevailing in Iran, exclusive investment in energy resources is not profitable, and as a result, the virtual power plant is completely dependent on the upstream network and incurs annual loss. However, upon removing government subsidies from energy and fuel price tariffs, investing in distributed energy resources within the virtual power plant frxamework demonstrated increased profitability from energy sales and energy exchange with the upstream network. In addition, the incorporation of demand response programs will shift the load from peak periods to non-peak periods, in which case the profit of the virtual power plant has decreased by 2.3 percent. In summary, this thesis underscores the importance of adapting to economic conditions, transitioning to unsubsidized energy sources, and incorporating demand response strategies within the virtual power plant frxamework to optimize energy sales, diminish peak loads, and enhance profitability in the Iranian electricity market.