VISTA, Calif. – Target has announced its most sustainable store to date that will generate more renewable energy than it will need annually and will test other innovations to reduce the building’s emissions.

The initiative at the Vista, California, store is part of the company’s Target Forward effort to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2040.

This store will now act as a testing site that will hopefully guide the company to improve future store designs.

According to Target, this test site is nearly three years in the making.

The search for the net-zero store began in the fall of 2019. The company eventually chose the store in Vista and work began to redesign the location the following spring.

Construction began in the fall of 2020, and work was finally completed this past winter.

The store is expected to generate renewable energy through 3,420 solar panels installed on the building’s roof and through newly installed carport canopies. In fact, Target says the location will produce a 10% energy surplus every year that can then be sent back into the local power grid.

In addition to the solar panels, the site also features charging stations for electric vehicles.

“We’ve been working for years at Target to shift toward sourcing more renewable energy and further reducing our carbon footprint, and our Vista store’s retrofit is the next step in our sustainability journey and a glimpse of the future we’re working toward,” said John Conlin, the senior vice president of properties at Target.

The building also powers its HVAC heating through the solar panels instead of using natural gas and uses carbon dioxide refrigeration, which is a natural refrigerant.

Using carbon dioxide was so successful that the company said it would use that method chain-wide by 2040 to reduce emissions by 20%.

The store also features more than 1,300 LED lights which cut 10% off its total energy bill.