During the last decade, PV technology has been subject to a quick and remarkable improvement, affecting both the efficiency of modules and the manufacturing costs; during its period of greatest growth, the EU market was characterized by different major types of,PV modules, but in many cases, due to the extremely rapid development of the sector, there is a lack of knowledge about the energy performance and behavior of such technologies under actual operating conditions. The aim of this work is thus to carry out a performance comparison of three different and representative PV technologies in temperate climatic conditions; in particular, the influence of climatic parameters on energy production was investigated, with a focus on the thermal and spectral analysis. The experimental results, referred to a monitoring period of one year, show a significant difference between the reference performances, rated under standard test conditions, and the actual daily/seasonal productivity, providing useful information about the different interaction with climate of the technologies tested. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.