Abstract The proper designing of PV systems requires the use of advanced building energy simulation techniques. It allows to design the best position of the PV array, as well as the right quantity of produced energy in different cases. On the other hand the PV efficiency is not only a constant value but changes according to temperature and solar radiation. This paper is devoted to estimate the simultaneous effect of both weather factors on PV efficiency. The task was achieved by numerical simulation and ESP-r software. Computer simulations have been carried out with the use of the Typical Meteorological Year data for Warsaw (52°N 21°E). The greatest influence of temperature on the efficiency of solar energy conversion was observed for crystalline silicon cells. The influence of the boundary conditions assumed in the study is ignored for amorphous silicon cells in the summer period and regardless of the material type in the winter period.