Transient stabilization with voltage regulation is investigated for a synchronous generator when the mechanical power is perturbed to any unknown value within its physical bounds so that the operating point of the system shifts to an unknown point. An adaptive excitation controller is designed based on the backstepping method with tuning functions. It will be shown that the adaptive control law proposed can achieve the convergence of the system states to the new equilibrium point in correspondence with the real value of the unknown mechanical power and the regulation of the terminal voltage to the required value. Simulation results are given to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed controller for the transient stabilization and voltage regulation.