The time-resolved spectra of the irradiation emitted from solar simulators employing the two types of high-intensity discharge arc lamps that are commonly used in solar simulators, i.e. metal halide (here 6 kW) and xenon arc (here 5 kW) lamps, are reported. The lamp emission was recorded by a fast-response photodiode, which reveals that the amplitude of oscillating irradiation intensity from the metal halide lamp is approximately 60% of the peak intensity, while its oscillation frequency is twice of the frequency of the AC power supply, here 100 Hz. The irradiation of the xenon arc lamp is powered by a modulated DC supply to oscillate at 300 Hz, with an amplitude that is found to be only approximately 9% that of the peak intensity. An intensified CCD camera, which was coupled with a spectrometer operating in a range of 350–900 nm, was synchronized with the lamp to provide phase-resolved spectra. The irradiation from the xenon arc lamp was found to be spectrally stable with time; while that from the metal halide lamp varies significantly throughout oscillation cycle, especially at the shorter-wavelengths of below 550 nm. All spectra were calibrated to reveal that the time-averaged spectrum of the simulator with a metal halide lamp matches the solar spectrum significantly better than does that from a xenon arc lamp. The reflecting surface of polished ellipsoidal reflector was found to reduce the intensity of selected frequency bands by up to 10%, while that from both the polished ellipsoidal reflector and conical concentrator was found to reduce the intensity in selected frequency bands by up to 20%.