An electrical machine comprising: a stator including a stator winding and a primary transformer coil; a rotor operatively connected to rotate relative to the stator, wherein the rotor includes a plurality of embedded permanent magnets; an excitation coil wound on the rotor and operatively connected to form a rotating transformer with the primary transformer coil; an inverter/active rectifier component operatively connected to the stator winding for directing external power through the electrical machine stator to drive the rotor in a motoring mode and to deliver power from the stator to an external DC load in a generate mode, the inverter/active rectifier component comprising: a position and velocity decoder configured and adapted to receive inverter voltage signals (V a,V b,V c) and to output position and velocity feedback (pos_est and vel_est); a proportional and integral regulator with a first switch for switching between a velocity reference input for the motoring mode and a DC voltage reference for a generate mode, and a second switch for switching between the velocity feedback and a DC voltage feedback input, wherein the proportional and integral regulator is configured to output a torque reference signal (trq_ref) in the motoring mode and a flux reference signal (flux_ref) in the generate mode; and a field oriented control operatively connected to receive the reference signals from the proportional and integral regulator, the position feedback from the position and velocity decoder, and inverter current signals and to output stationary frame command signals (Valpha_ref and Vbeta_ref); the electrical machine is characterised in that an RC damper is connected in parallel with the excitation coil. a stator including a stator winding and a primary transformer coil; a rotor operatively connected to rotate relative to the stator, wherein the rotor includes a plurality of embedded permanent magnets; an excitation coil wound on the rotor and operatively connected to form a rotating transformer with the primary transformer coil; an inverter/active rectifier component operatively connected to the stator winding for directing external power through the electrical machine stator to drive the rotor in a motoring mode and to deliver power from the stator to an external DC load in a generate mode, the inverter/active rectifier component comprising: a position and velocity decoder configured and adapted to receive inverter voltage signals (V a,V b,V c) and to output position and velocity feedback (pos_est and vel_est); a proportional and integral regulator with a first switch for switching between a velocity reference input for the motoring mode and a DC voltage reference for a generate mode, and a second switch for switching between the velocity feedback and a DC voltage feedback input, wherein the proportional and integral regulator is configured to output a torque reference signal (trq_ref) in the motoring mode and a flux reference signal (flux_ref) in the generate mode; and a field oriented control operatively connected to receive the reference signals from the proportional and integral regulator, the position feedback from the position and velocity decoder, and inverter current signals and to output stationary frame command signals (Valpha_ref and Vbeta_ref); a position and velocity decoder configured and adapted to receive inverter voltage signals (V a,V b,V c) and to output position and velocity feedback (pos_est and vel_est); a proportional and integral regulator with a first switch for switching between a velocity reference input for the motoring mode and a DC voltage reference for a generate mode, and a second switch for switching between the velocity feedback and a DC voltage feedback input, wherein the proportional and integral regulator is configured to output a torque reference signal (trq_ref) in the motoring mode and a flux reference signal (flux_ref) in the generate mode; and a field oriented control operatively connected to receive the reference signals from the proportional and integral regulator, the position feedback from the position and velocity decoder, and inverter current signals and to output stationary frame command signals (Valpha_ref and Vbeta_ref); the electrical machine is characterised in that an RC damper is connected in parallel with the excitation coil.