A direct method to find the capacitance requirements for a three phase self-excited reluctance generator under any load or speed is introduced. Expressions for the load angle as well as for the minimum value of the excitation capacitance are derived. It has been found that there is a cut off speed, above which no excitation is possible no matter what the terminal capacitance value. Expressions for the value of this speed under open circuit, resistive and pure inductive loads are also derived and presented.