A system or method for a VSD with an active converter including a controller, an inductor, an active converter, a DC link, and an inverter. The active converter is controlled to receive an input AC voltage and output a boosted DC voltage to a DC link, up to 850 VDC, the active converter using only low voltage semiconductor switches to provide the 850 VDC DC link voltage. The controller is configured to operate with a reactive input current magnitude equal to zero at a predetermined system load, and at system loads less than the predetermined system load, to introduce a reactive input current that results in a converter voltage having a magnitude less than the input voltage, wherein the vector sum of the input voltage and an inductor voltage is equal to the converter voltage.