# Does using electronics with poor power factor affect the pulse power capability of a generator rated for a certain KVA?

The situation is such:

There is a multi-pole, three-phase, permanent magnet generator (rated for 100 KVA, let's say) that feeds into a simple diode rectifier with a capacitive/DC Voltage load (something like a battery).

Without any active correction, the power factor of this circuitry is going to be pretty poor (maybe down around 0.5).

Now I understand that poor power factor is going to give us much higher $I^{2}R$ losses in our wiring, diodes, etc. What I don't understand is the impact on the generator when running high power for short times with poor power factor.

I have two questions:

1. Can a multi-pole, 3 phase, permanent magnet generator even supply the power equivalent of its rated KVA at all with such power factor? (i.e. can I ever get 100kW out of this generator this way?)

2. Supposing I can, how long can I do that for? My limited understanding is that this will produce a lot of heat in the generator and cause it to fail if used this way continuously, but could still, in theory, provide this power. If I am to run it at 100kW at poor power factor for only a couple of minutes or less, am I not damaging the generator?