SUMMARYIn this brief note, we consider the transient stabilization and voltage regulation problem for a synchronous generator connected to an infinite bus. We show how a much simpler output feedback controller, compared with previous results, can be obtained if a different stability analysis is carried out: a suitable change of coordinates is performed so that advantageous triangularity properties of the regulation error dynamics are highlighted. A novel first order estimator for the uncertain mechanical input power is designed: it is the only adaptation scheme used by the controller. The innovative crucial step in the presented control design relies on relaxing the constraint imposed by the typically (previously) adopted back‐stepping techniques and constituted by the required availability of the regulation/tracking error variables: the converging estimate of the mechanical input power directly becomes the reference value for the electrical power and allows for the straightforward computation of the uncertain power angle constant value guaranteeing voltage regulation at steady state. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.