But now, the head of a Gloucester-based nonprofit organization says his agency is determined to help fix her electricity-generating turbine, or replace it with a new one that will work. For free.

"We want to make it right and we will do everything to make sure it's done right," said Elliott Jacobson, energy director at Action Inc., who read about Bennett's saga in a recent Globe North story. His Gloucester antipoverty agency has a state-funded contract to bring alternative energy opportunities to low-income residents and communities in the area.

Bennett, 56, is thrilled with the news, but said she is trying to keep her emotions "in check" because she worries something might still go awry.

"If this does get fixed, I would be totally amazed," she said. "I literally was planning on it sitting there till the day I died."

Shortly after Jacobson read about Bennett, in a Feb. 23 story on local efforts to tap alternative energy sources, Action Inc. stepped forward and has been to Bennett's home twice to learn more about her power-generating system and to assess the energy efficiency of her house. Under the contract awarded to Action Inc. by the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative a quasi-public agency that funds solar- and wind-powered projects the nonprofit must first make an applicant's home energy efficient, by providing insulation and updating inefficient appliances and windows, before installing an alternative energy system.

Jacobson said Bennett's home already is quite efficient. Not only is her attic lined with three times the average amount of insulation, but she built a greenhouse across the back of her home that provides enough warmth to allow her to turn off her electric heat by the end of March most years. She built the greenhouse a few years after the wind turbine failed.

"In many ways, she's a very good candidate for alternative energy because we don't have to do all the other things first," he said.

But there is still plenty of other work to be done.

First, Jacobson said, crews must assess whether the turbine is worth fixing, or whether it might make better sense to install a newer, more efficient one that also would be less intrusive in the neighborhood. He said Bennett's turbine was made by a reputable manufacturer who is still in business. Bennett's nightmare, he said, stemmed from the contractor who did faulty work, took off and eventually went bankrupt. Jacobson said he has encountered other cases of contractors who took advantage of homeowners interested in alternative energy projects several decades ago.

Action Inc. also will be studying Gloucester's zoning laws to see whether a replacement turbine would be allowed in the same spot in Bennett's yard, or whether current rules would dictate a smaller one in a slightly different location. Jacobson said industry standards have changed since Bennett's tower was built.

"It has to be in an area that would not fall on someone's else's house," he said. "Also, there are `fling zones,' where, if ice is flung off the rotors, it can't hit someone's house. Ice can come off these, in rare occasions."

Action Inc. has spent the past year studying how to bring alternative energy projects to low-income areas, but only now is starting to select projects to back.

"We are learning as we go," Jacobson said. "Our goal is to not ghettoize low-income. Right now, only middle class and rich people have access to alternative energy, Who else can afford the investment?"

Given the complexity of the issue, Action Inc. expects it will be several months, at least, before Bennett's long-defunct wind turbine might be working again, or a modern replacement is spinning there instead.

"It may take longer than we would like," Jacobson said, "but we are determined to do it right."

That pledge and the prospect of her wind turbine whirling again are music to Bennett's ears.

"I've waited years," she said. "What's a few months, if I could get it done?"

For more information about Action Energy's alternative energy programs, e-mail: bruceledgerwood@comcast.net.

Kay Lazar can be reached at klazar@globe.com.