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The process where water molecules are split using electricity has been around since the 19th century.

The principle of electrolysis was formulated by Michael Faraday in 1820. Using heat only for water splitting remained difficult because of the high temperatures required.

Systematic research on water splitting started in the 1960s in an attempt to increase the efficiency of hydrogen production processes.

It got a strong boost during the oil crisis in the 1970s.

Out of this development, multi-step processes emerged which tried to overcome the need for very high temperatures and simultaneous gas extraction.

By the end of the last millennium the activities on direct thermal water splitting ended with a last experiment at the Weizmann Institute.

In 2001 the inventors of the H2P technology , Nils Kongmark, Harald Wirth and Klaus Röhrich, had the first discussions about hydrogen production, which culminated in an application for patent protection of their new H2Ps technology in 2002.

Further work on their method resulted in application patents in 2004 and 2006. In 2007 a first device was constructed that reached over 2000°C but filter development was lacking. A new company, H2 Power Systems Ltd, was created. In February 2010 the company moved to Ireland and received funds to build a full device to prove proof of concept of the H2P technology.