What is loss of excitation in generators?

A loss of excitation will cause the generator to start drawing more and more reactive power over time. Over the first few seconds, and until about thirty seconds after the LOE (depending on the load on the generator before the loss of excitation occurred), active power will stay relatively constant, but reactive power will continue to be absorbed from the rest of the system, and voltage levels will drop. Eventually, the magnetic field between the stator and rotor degrades too much, pole slipping and loss of synchronism will occur. At this point, catastrophic damage will likely have been done to the generator.