Abstract. For the purpose of predict the electrical characteristics of black silicon solar cells, a simple lumped-parameter equivalent circuit model is proposed. This model is in the form of electrical equivalent circuit which contains one diode, one current source and two resistances. The model contains linear and nonlinear components. A method based on some simplifications and approximation to the nonlinear function has been proposed to estimate the model parameters. To verify the model and the method, two kinds of black silicon solar cells were used to measure the I-V curves and P-V curves at various irradiance conditions. Simulations and experiments have been conducted to confirm the operation of the proposed model and estimation method.