Voltage regulation of high voltage direct current systems

A method comprising:

• monitoring operating conditions of a power generator having an AC generator and a DC converter;
• determining whether the power generator is regularly operating by providing a DC voltage to a load based on a current of the DC bus and at least one of the DC voltage and the AC voltage;
• when determining that the power generator is regularly operating, activating DC voltage regulation;
• when determining that the power generator is not regularly operating, activating AC voltage regulation.

A system comprising:

• a generator that generates alternating current (AC) voltage;
• a power converter that converts the AC voltage into regulated direct current (DC) voltage;
• a DC bus that provides the DC voltage for use by one or more loads;
• and
• a voltage regulator comprising:
• an AC voltage regulator that regulates the AC voltage generated by the generator when the AC voltage regulator is selected;
• a DC voltage regulator that regulates the DC voltage produced by the power converter when the DC voltage regulator is selected;
• and
• a regulator selector that detects at least one of a no-load condition or a light load condition based on the current of the DC bus, wherein the regulator selector selects the AC voltage regulator based on detecting at least one of the no-load condition and the light load condition and selects the DC voltage regulator during regular operation.