Abstarct: Vertical axis wind turbines (or VAWTs) have attracted the attention of researchers because of their simple design and independency of wind direction. Among these turbines, the Darrieus turbine, which is baxsed on lift force, has the highest efficiency. However, this type suffers from automatic start-up issue. The purpose of this dissertation is to combine the Darrieus turbine with the variable blade pitch angle mechanism in order to achieve the starting torque, proper performance range and to provide self-starting capability for the turbine. Initially, a prototype of Darrieus turbine has been constructed and in order to analyze the performance of the variable pitch angle mechanism, three straight type composite blades have been fabricated and investigated. The results showed that the application of the mechanism produces the appropriate torque at low speeds in order to start the turbine. At 0.77% tip speed ratio (TSR), power factor and torque coefficient increase for Goe-508 airfoil were 33.03% and 33.33%, for Goe-602 airfoil were 31.28% and 30.76%, and for Naca-2412 airfoil were 18.93% and 18.34%, respectively. The results at different wind flow speeds have also shown that the Goe-508 airfoil had the highest increase in power factor and torque among the tested models including Goe-508, Goe-602 and Naca-2412.