Lightsource has announced refinancing of £284m of its portfolio of UK solar projects.

The portfolio comprises 33 operational, ground-mounted solar projects, which fall under 20-25 year fixed income tariffs under the UK government’s Feed in Tariff subsidy regime.

The refinancing was completed with the Royal Bank of Scotland as Lightsource’s financial partner and takes the amount of project finance debt raised by Lighthouse in 2015 to £1.1bn.

The £284m refinancing represents the first ever sterling, benchmark-size solar bond and the largest sterling renewables bond.

The deal saw M&G Investments provide £247 million of 22-year inflation linked finance with AMP Capital providing a £37 million 8-year mezzanine facility.

Lightsource finance director Paul McCartie said:

“We are delighted to have closed this deal which represents a significant milestone for Lightsource. We would like to thank M&G and AMP Capital for their continued support on the transaction and hope that we can maintain those partnerships with future deals in the pipeline.”