For those readers who pay close enough attention, you probably noticed that yesterday’s installment of Solar Power Rundown was, well, missing. (I know, I know: how did you ever get through the day?) Have no fear, however, we’re back in full force today with your daily recap of solar energy news and related information. Here we go:

Florida Governor Charlie Crist yesterday gave his State of the State address. On the topic of renewable energy, he had the following to say:”We can also strengthen our clean energy business sector by investing $10 million for solar energy rebates, as well as injecting $176 million in federal funding into our economy by expanding green energy technologies, including rebates for energy efficient appliances. The historic legislation passed two years ago is creating a new energy future for Florida, where we strive to become among the top two states in the nation in terms of solar energy. As the Sunshine State, we should expect nothing less.”  Here, here. For recent solar energy news from Florida, read this post from GetSolar’s Margaret Collins.

In investing news, Chinese solar-panel maker Canadian Solar (NASDAQ:CSIQ) missed consensus earnings estimates for Q4 despite record sales, reports Reuters. The stock was up in mid-day trading, on the heels of the following comment from CEO Shawn Qu: “demand is expected to very strong for all of 2010.” Canadian Solar announced in December a plan to build a manufacturing facility in Ontario, Canada, in a bid to participate more closely in the province’s growing solar energy market.

Plans for a new commercial solar installation in Hawaii were announced today, via MarketWatch. In partnership with Allied Builders, Architects Hawaii Ltd. and Diagnostic Laboratory Services, Inc., Hoku Solar will engineer and install a 339-kilowatt photovoltaic system. As planned, the solar installation will generate annually almost 500,000 kilowatt-hours of clean energy at Diagnostic Laboratory Services’ new headquarters building in Halawa Valley on the island of Oahu.

In a bid to sway the Colorado Senate, Vote Solar and Environment Colorado have released a study suggesting more than 23,000 jobs would be created by the passage of HB10-1001, a bill that would require investor-owned utilities, like Xcel Energy and Black Hills, to boost dramatically the amount of power coming from renewable resources like solar. Entitled “Investing in the Sun,” the report calls for a 2019 goal of one gigawatt for solar distributed generation, or “DG.” Holy cow. That is a boatload of solar power. I suppose it’s better to aim for the moon and hit the roof, however. They’ve got our support. For more details, see this post from Renewable Energy Focus.

Finally, CNET’s Martin LaMonica is covering the ARPA-E Energy Innovation Summit, which is being held this week in Washington, DC. The event is a gathering of energy wonks, policy wonks, investors and business leaders. We can only imagine the chit-chat that goes on during the 10:15 am coffee break… Anyway, this dispatch — entitled “Green Tech Seeks its ‘Netscape Moment‘” — is worth a read, as is the following quote from renowned venture capitalist John Doerr. Referring to the perceived lack of cohesive national rules and regulations in this country, Doerr suggested that U.S. energy policy could be called the “sum of all lobbyists.”

That’s all for today. We’ll be back, as usual, tomorrow. So be sure to stay plugged in with GetSolar for more solar energy news, solar energy tips and solar energy info.