The breakthrough has been enabled using a transparent photovoltaic film that taps the sun's energy to power both the scrolling mechanism and the LED lighting used by the Autonomous Scroller display.

It is the product of an 18-month research project with French technology firm Wysips, inventor of the solar-tapping film, with which Prismaflex signed an exclusive worldwide agreement in August 2011.

Wysips created the film to apply to mobile phones to allow them to recharge under ambient light conditions; however, a lenticular process that incorporates the photovoltaic cells in a very thin transparent film made the technology suitable for powering advertising displays.

The film is applied to the glazed part of the scrolling signs and can be used on anything from bus shelters to 48 sheet billboards. In addition, the same technology can be applied to LED screens to reduce power consumption by up to 30%, saving thousands of pounds a year on a single site.

Sam Cook, chief executive of Prismaflex UK, said that the Autonomous Scrollers combined the ability to run a scroller with LED lighting rather than fluorescent tubes with the new photovoltaic film to create an out of home display that is completely autonomous from the grid.

"This technology could potentially change the landscape because it's not just the electricity saving, it's the ability to get electricity to the site," he added. "This opens up the possibility of new sites in remote locations where there is no electricity because you won't have to pay for an expensive connection to the grid.

"So suddenly you can have a bus shelter out in the sticks with a scrolling display and LED lighting; equally if you want to mount a 48-sheet display on a wall then you no longer need to worry about getting electricity to the site."

Cook added that the Autonomous Scrollers would cost slightly more, but that the energy savings would be "significant", while the environmental benefits would be welcomed by advertisers.

"If you look at the electricity consumption on the big LED screens then not only is the bill horrendous, but these things are really not very eco-friendly and if you can cut their power consumption by a third that's going to have a significant impact."