This paper reports on a novel solar simulator of high flux solar irradiation which was designed and assembled at the Institute of Sustainable Energy Technology - University of Nottingham. It comprises of an array of 30 halogen lamps of 400W each, covering a gross area of 2.32 m². A standardized practical method for solar simulator testing facility based on an experimental performance has been presented. A uniform geometrical configuration design for solar simulator was preliminary evaluated by illuminance distribution to optimize the maximum source-to-target transfer efficiency of irradiative power. A number of experimental tests were carried out for various distances from the simulator surface in order to determine the fluctuations in intensities on target. The experimental outcomes showed that the simulator's lights take about 20 - 30 min to reach the steady state while the solar intensity increases with the decrease of distance between the solar light source and the target material. It was determined that the optimal distance between the light surface simulator and solar collector is about 23 cm at different solar irradiance. The unevenness difference of solar radiation values were investigated at different points under the simulator facility where the maximum unevenness error percentages was about 9.1% which is in a good agreement within the allowable limits of 15% provided by the British Standards for testing the solar simulator . Further, this research facility was used to examine the performance of an evacuated solar collector with an aperture area of 1.73 m² for real solar insolation during March in the Middle East region and it was proved that the calculated efficiency of solar collector based on the experimental testing results to be closely correlated within the efficiency provided by the manufacture. The design of such solar light simulator associated with the development of standardized test procedure can be utilized as a reliable and efficient experimental platform to investigate various solar collectors and materials.