This work focuses on two prime objectives. The first is to detect chaos in the fractional-order model of a permanent magnet synchronous generator (PMSG) and the second is to suppress chaos using a novel predictive control scheme in the fractional order sense. The main contributions of the work, therefore, lie in discovering the minimum commensurate order for which chaos exists in the fractional-order PMSG (FOPMSG), studying its dynamical behaviour ranging from Hopf bifurcation to stability analysis and the proposal of a single-state predictive controller to stabilise the chaotic FOPMSG in both commensurate as well as incommensurate orders. The proposal of predictive controller for controlling chaos in a fractional-order variable-speed drive is a novel attempt. Lower control effort, effectiveness, simplicity in design and application, convenience in inclusion of non-linearity, etc. highlight the promising potential of the proposed predictive control scheme. Circuit implementation results which are in good qualitative agreement with that of simulated results, confirm that the work attains the objectives successfully.