# Azores — Full Numbers

_Standalone site reference. Startup capital, annual operating costs, revenue, and grant upside for the Azores Atlantis Pad (Faial or Pico, Portugal)._

**Reading this page:** figures with a superscript number¹ have a real external source, linked below in Sources & Notes. Figures without one are internal working estimates, reasoned but not externally verified.

**Governing unit count: 6 units** (updated 24 August 2026, was 3). A 6-unit lodge needs well under 1% of Pico/Faial's existing overnight tourism market¹ to fill capacity. The 3-unit baseline is retained in the combined justification doc for audit trail only, this page uses the current governing 6-unit figures throughout.

---

## Startup Capital — $1,514,500 (6-unit mid-case)

| Line Item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Land / coastal plot (Faial or Pico, 2ha)¹ | $148,000 |
| Container homes x6, seismic + Atlantic wind rated² | $891,000 |
| IMTA aquaculture infrastructure, lines, cages, nursery | $124,000 |
| Research vessel and ROV operational kit | $112,000 |
| Research station and OKEANOS interface fit-out | $56,000 |
| Permits, DRA (regional authority), EU regulatory filings | $28,000 |
| AL/Moradia registration, per-unit vistoria fee, safety-equipment bundle³ | $3,500 |
| Working capital reserve (6 months opex) | $152,000 |
| **Total** | **$1,514,500** |

_Range: low-case (container homes at $570K/unit low): $1,193,500. High-case ($1,212K high): $1,835,500._

## Annual Operating Costs — $304,000 (6 units)

| Line Item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Staff — 2 FT researchers, 1 aquaculture tech, 1 guide | $98,000 |
| Vessel operations, fuel, ROV maintenance | $52,000 |
| Aquaculture inputs — seed, nutrients, harvest logistics | $32,000 |
| Accommodation operations, utilities (island premium, 6 units) | $72,000 |
| OKEANOS partnership costs, co-publication fees⁴ | $14,000 |
| Marketing, booking, carbon credit verification | $18,000 |
| Admin, EU grant compliance, contingency | $7,410 |
| AL insurance/fire-equipment, 6 units³ | $1,590 |
| Incremental part-time facilities/turnover staffing | $9,000 |
| **Total** | **$304,000** |

## Revenue, Year 2-3 — Base Case

| Revenue Stream | Active Months | Conservative | Realistic |
|---|---|---|---|
| Whale watching and cetacean tours⁵ | 10 | $96,000 | $172,800 |
| IMTA harvest — mussels, oysters, sea bass | 12 | $68,000 | $120,000 |
| Research residencies and ROV leasing⁴ | 10 | $44,000 | $72,000 |
| Diving — volcanic geology and seamounts⁶ | 7 | $54,000 | $90,000 |
| Seaweed bioproducts and microalgae | 12 | $24,128 | $42,076 |
| Practitioner programs and immersives | 8 | $18,000 | $32,000 |
| **Base case total** | | **$304,128** | **$528,876** |

## ⚠️ Governing Revenue: OKEANOS Research-Residency Upside

**This is a real, named, uncontracted assumption, not a decided fact.** OKEANOS is a real, active institutional partner already running field seasons⁴; the governing figures below assume additional dedicated researcher-housing capacity lets that same residency revenue scale by its full baseline amount again. **Nothing from OKEANOS confirms they will actually fill 6 units' worth of researcher housing at this price.** Track this as a named assumption to confirm before treating it as real revenue.

| | Conservative | Realistic |
|---|---|---|
| Base case total | $304,128 | $528,876 |
| OKEANOS upside (uncontracted) | +$44,000 | +$72,000 |
| **Governing total** | **$348,128** | **$600,876** |

## Margin

- **Conservative (governing, OKEANOS upside included): +12.7%**
- **Realistic (governing): +49.4%**
- **Conservative, base case only (no OKEANOS upside): +0.04%, effective breakeven, not a real margin buffer**
- **Realistic, base case only: +42.5%**
- **Optimistic: $634,651** — a flat +20% projection over Realistic. Assumption only, no separately sourced optimistic figure exists.

## Break-Even, With Assumptions

Three real interactive toggles apply to the break-even calculation shown in the deck:

| Toggle | Effect | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| OKEANOS Research Residency (default ON) | +$44K Conservative / +$72K Realistic | The uncontracted upside above |
| Seasonality (default OFF) | -15% of weather-dependent streams only (whale watching + diving + practitioner programs), within their already-limited active season | Atlantic storms October-March limit the tourism season to roughly 6 months⁷. No sourced numeric spread exists; this is an internal assumption of a harsher-than-typical storm season. |
| Disaster Stress Test (default OFF) | -25% of total revenue, applied last | Modeled loosely on Azores' own documented precedent (2019 Hurricane Lorenzo, $362M regional damage; 1998 Faial earthquake, $72M damage)⁸. No Azores-specific revenue-loss study exists; this is an internal assumption, not a sourced percentage. |

## Grant Upside (not in base case)

| Grant | Amount | |
|---|---|---|
| EU LIFE BESTLIFE2030 (outermost region)⁹ | 95% co-financing | |
| EMFAF Outermost Region Fisheries | €80K-€400K | assumption |
| Horizon Europe Blue Economy | €100K-€600K | assumption, OKEANOS as co-applicant is a real, named partnership |

## Critical Path to Start Build

**Aquaculture zone confirmation with the Regional Directorate of Sea.** Only 3 designated zones exist¹⁰; sites outside them require a 1-3 year re-designation process. Confirm zone alignment before any other commitment. Once cleared: **8-18 months** to full operating status.

---

## Sources & Notes

1. **Land cost and tourism market** — €35-60/m² coastal rural land on Pico, 213+ active listings mid-2026. Overnight tourism base of roughly 235,000-236,000 stays/year per island (SREA, the Azores regional statistics authority).

2. **Container home per-unit cost** — €88K-€187K per unit, seismic and Atlantic-wind-rated, sourced range for a 6-unit build. The Azores is volcanically active; seismic-rated foundations are non-negotiable, an engineer must certify the system. Container homes are legal under Portugal's SCIE simplified building code, with a 4-8 month permit timeline through the local Câmara Municipal.

3. **AL (Alojamento Local) licensing** — Portugal's short-stay lodging regime, DL 128/2014 (amended DL 76/2024), adapted regionally via DLR 7/2012/A and Portaria 83/2016/A. A cluster of standalone container homes qualifies as "Moradia." Cost delta for 6 units is $3,500 startup / $1,590 opex, trivial because most Azores-specific AL requirements (no annual renewal fee, light under-10-guest safety tier) sit far under this project's scale.

4. **OKEANOS partnership** — [OKEANOS, Institute of Marine Sciences, University of the Azores](https://www.okeanos.uac.pt/), headquartered in Horta, Faial. A real, active marine research institute that works with BBC, National Geographic, and NOAA.

5. **Whale watching demand** — 28 cetacean species documented in Azorean waters, including blue, sperm, beaked, pilot, and humpback whales year-round. Widely regarded as the most reliable whale-watching location in the North Atlantic.

6. **Diving context** — Three tectonic plates meet near the Azores, with active hydrothermal vents roughly 170km out.

7. **Seasonality** — Atlantic storms October through March limit diving and tourism to roughly a 6-month season. No numeric revenue-impact figure has been derived from this; it is a qualitative, sourced risk noted in the site profile.

8. **Disaster precedent** — 2019 Hurricane Lorenzo caused approximately $362M in regional damage. The 1998 Faial earthquake caused approximately $72M in damage. Neither event has been converted into a revenue-impact percentage specific to this site; the deck's -25% disaster toggle is an internal assumption, not a derived figure.

9. **EU LIFE BESTLIFE2030** — confirmed 95% co-financing rate for outermost-region biodiversity projects.

10. **Aquaculture zoning** — only 3 designated aquaculture zones exist in the Azores region; sites outside them face a 1-3 year re-designation process through the Regional Directorate of Sea.

**Everything not listed above** is an internal working estimate: a reasoned assumption built from the site's real operating parameters, but not backed by an external citation of its own. Full audit-trail detail across all five network sites, including the original 3-unit baseline retained for history: `atlantis-pads-numbers-justification.md`.