Letter: Wave power

Sir: A solution to Hartlepool's problem of unemployment (report, 12 August) lies conveniently at hand for Peter Mandelson, the local MP. His Department of Trade and Industry is shortly to publish a much-delayed review of renewable energy and John Battle, the Energy Minister, has said that it will include a return to wave energy, the technology abandoned by the previous government.

All the skills needed for building wave-power generators are to be found in Hartlepool - shipbuilding, steel and electronics. An ideal device would be the Raft, devised by Sir Christopher Cockerell, who invented the Hovercraft. It is simple in construction and can be mass-produced.

DAVID ROSS

London SE5