Frying Pan Shoals Light

Frying Pan Shoals Light Station is a decommissioned Coast Guard lighthouse located near the end of the Frying Pan Shoals 32 miles (51 km) SE of Bald Head Island, North Carolina. The Frying Pan Tower™ rises 135' above the Atlantic Ocean is being restored by volunteers through FPTower Inc., a 501(c)3 nonprofit whose mission is to help provide safety to mariners and the local sea life as well as providing an on-site facility for environmental research, and to live stream cameras of above and below the ocean. Several universities (JHU, MIT) and governmental agencies (BOEM, NASA, NOAA, NAVY) have used the tower's unique location to perform vital research over the last decade as it is being restored.

The facility is 98% powered by stored solar energy with fossil fuel generation reserved for heavy power usages such as welding. The nearly 6000 square foot helipad captures rainwater into one of the remaining 14,500 gallon (55,000 liter) steel holding tanks attached under the belly where a ultraviolet (UV) and micro filtration system along with a commercial Culligan Water reverse osmosis system results in potable water suitable for cooking and general use. High-speed Internet communications were established by installing a Cambium Networks radio 5.8 gHz microwave connection between two 4' (1.2 m) dishes, one at 1340' (408 m) on a land based TV station tower and the other located on the tower's helipad.

The light tower is modeled after a steel oil drilling platform, known as a "Texas Tower", on top of four steel legs that was engineered to be used as a lighthouse housing several Coast Guard members. Each of the four 42" (1 m) legs are buried 296' deep into the soil below and were filled with cement. The 80-foot (24 m) main level and the 135' (41 m) SE corner light tower marks the shoals at the confluence of the Cape Fear River and the Atlantic Ocean.