VAWT (Vertical axis wind turbines) pose several advantages over the horizontal axis machines that make them more suitable for applications where wind conditions are inherently turbulent. However, due to the complexity of VAWT aerodynamics, technical literature on the subject is very limited with research on VAWT performance mostly focused on steady wind analysis. This paper aims to numerically predict the performance of a 5 kW VAWT under fluctuating wind conditions through computational fluid dynamics modeling. Two dimensional VAWT models using symmetric and cambered blades were created with open field boundary extents. Fluctuating wind speed was imposed on the inlet with average magnitude of 5 m/s, amplitude of fluctuation of 10%, and frequency of fluctuation of 1 Hz. Results revealed that fluctuating wind imposes a detrimental effect on VAWT performance. A VAWT blade with 1.5% camber shows the best performance with the cycle-averaged unsteady power coefficient at 0.31 versus the optimum steady power coefficient of 0.34. In spite of increased available wind power due to the fluctuating wind at 233.13 Watts in one wind cycle compared to 229.69 Watts for the steady 5 m/s wind case, power generated by the camber bladed VAWT drops to 74.96 Watts from the steady wind rotor power of 78.32 Watts. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.