AC:Studio Spotlight: Zachary McCue, founder and CEO of REPWR

Marketers know that success comes from having the right message at the right time. That same idea is employed by startup founders who deliver the right product at the right time. But what if you have the right product at the wrong time?

That was the challenge facing Zachary McCue, the founder and CEO of REPWR. The startup designs modular solar panels for use in marine, rail, and trucking applications. Instead of expensive retrofitting, REPWR’s solar panels can be easily installed onto containers and connected to existing power systems. The result? Reduced greenhouse emissions, increased fuel efficiency, and lowered operational costs.

Inspiration waiting at the tracks

McCue was working in the solar industry when he saw an untapped opportunity. While driving with his family in Collingwood, McCue was stopped at a railroad crossing as a container train rolled through cottage country.

“I saw this train full of containers and noticed there was a lot of real estate for solar on the top of those containers,” he says.

The trains we see carrying containers and other cargo are diesel-electric locomotives. The diesel engine generates the electricity for the drive shaft that powers the train’s wheels. McCue wondered if solar panels on top of the containers could possibly provide the electricity instead of the diesel motor.

Later that day, McCue started sketching out his idea for what would become REPWR. The challenge was not the technology, but the timing.

“This was 2011 and no one was talking about decarbonization. Fuel prices were still significantly cheaper than they are today. Even Tesla was just a fledgling company at the time,” McCue says.

He decided to put the idea on the shelf and return to consulting in the solar industry. In 2020, McCue says the market had matured and decarbonization had become a major investment area.

“The price of diesel had doubled. There were organizations promoting net-zero initiatives. So we decided that maybe this was a good time to restart this business and give it a fair shake,” he says.

Full steam ahead

McCue incorporated REPWR in 2022 and spent the next year in stealth mode looking at the electrification market to understand what was working and where the edge could be. For rail, he says there were some attempts at battery electric locomotives, but the technology had many of the same charging capacity and speed issues as electric automobiles.

While rail shipping was the inspiration, marine shipping stood out as a market open to container-based solar power. Modern container ships can have up to a 400 by 80 meter flat surface that is essentially floating in the middle of the ocean where there is very little shading.

“Let’s say you have 21 days of transit between Singapore and Vancouver or LA, not to mention the time you're anchored waiting to be loaded or offloaded. That can be a month of power generation from solar,” he says.

The benefits are even great for when a ship is moored in harbour. While container ship engines are powered by diesel engines, it is typically diesel generators that the megawatts of power required for a ship’s pumps, water makers, heating systems, radar, and other necessary systems.

“They're just sitting there parked and they're running their diesel generators. Our system becomes actually even more beneficial because they're not running those generators and burning through fuel,” McCue says.

According to McCue, the company’s models show that a standard size container ship will generate 1.5 million USD a year in annual recurring revenue from REPWR purchase agreements.

“We'll save the ship owners an additional $1.5 million in operational costs in carbon emissions, taxes, and tariffs. That doesn’t include savings in maintenance costs. Instead of a diesel generator running 100% of the time, we can get that down to 20 to 30% of the time,” he says.

REPWR recently signed a letter of intent with a UK-based shipping company to do its first ocean trials coming in 2026.

The Accelerator Centre answers the hail

Hardware is notoriously hard. But for an experienced solar installer like McCue, the real help needed was in what was needed to build the business. That’s where the Accelerator Centre and AC:Studio came in to help. McCue learned about the program from an AC:Studio alum who he was working with in a shared office.

“He sent me an email saying AC:Studio was great for him and would be spectacular for me and that I needed to apply,” McCue says.

For McCue, the recommendation was well earned.

“We've been associated with a few accelerator programs over the years, and I can say by far, the Accelerator Center has been the best one for us. Hands down. The caliber of the mentors and the experts in residence are second to none,” he says.

REPWR’s team took advantage of pitch coaching, introductions to venture capital companies, and marketing. McCue says the advantage of the AC is that it meets founders where they are in their journeys.

“There are a number of accelerator programs out there where you go through the same program no matter where you are in the continuum of development. It became frustrating, because we were doing things that we had done two years ago. The Accelerator Center offers bespoke programs. Instead of saying, ‘This is what you need to do’, they looked at us and said, ‘How can we help?’,” McCue says.