A few things :
* you don't need a fridge in winter so you can just turn it off. * charging battery banks / laptops in sunny periods results in the battery bank being useful in times when the weather isn't so kind. * no amount of solar is enough in the deep of winter. * any amount of solar is too much in the height of summer. * pubs are great for charging devices. * lead acid batteries last substantially longer if you only let them drop to half their true capacity and regularly charge them. Yes alternatives exist but there's something to be said for making what you have work for as long as possible.
> any amount of solar is too much in the height of summer
I totally agree. I can't understand how it why solar is promoted, when the winter is when you need more energy as you're in more, heating your house, etc. You can't store your summer's energy till the winter.
People hardly realize (or straight up don't realize) that once you're in the tropics even the notions of summer and winter start to get fuzzy. Consider: if you're on the equator then you can go from "summer" to "winter" in only a few steps. Obviously, near the equator solar is a no brainer.
And of course the opposite is true, once you're inside the arctic circle solar is basically pointless because there literally is a period of no sun lasting anywhere from several days to several months. Of course not too many people live inside the arctic circle so it's not too much of an issue.
Even between these extremes though, the usability varies a lot.