At a guess the fridge thing is because of the waveform produced.
Solar panels work at realtively high DC voltages (they are wired in series), and the output is inverted to give AC power around 240V. The cheapest way to do this is to create a square wave (the mains is as close to sinusoidal as possible). This will damage many designs of induction motor (and other things!), because of the high proportion of odd harmonics - these effectively heat the motor rather than causing it to rotate, so it overheats and burns out. There are other issues with low voltages and squirrel cage induction motors, but that's probably not relevant here.
There's no fix for this, apart from using a much more expensive and better quality inverter.
It may be that the system you're considering produces good quality sine wave output. Frankly, I'd be slightly surprised if it didn't, because of the need to feed into the mains: the supply companies used to take a dim view of muck (interference) being distributed via the mains, and electrical/electronic equipment has had supressors fitted on the mains leads both to protect the devices and to stop noisy equipment broadcasting via the mains wiring. They are the usually-cylindrical bulges you see on laptop power cables, etc., but there are other filters (chokes) usually hidden inside the power supply itself.
The issue is more likely to occur with small petrol/diesel generators, which are notorious for horrible waveforms. I suspect SIemens are covering their collective bottoms in this regard.
FWIW, we have 8 sqm of solar water heating on the roof. It's excellent - very low maintenance, efficient and effective, but we have a roof facing due south at a good angle. If there weren't subsidies, solar electrical generation probably wouldn't be used here in the UK except for special purposes, because the payback is so poor. If the present subsidy scheme is cut, it changes the economics entirely. It's also the case that the quality of the components used in photovoltaic systems has fallen dramatically.
With our solar water heating, the only moving part is an ordinary single-speed central heating pump, and the controller has fewer components than an old transistor radio. It's been installed for about ten years, and it works well. I can't tell you how much it contributes, but the heating can go off completely from about now onwards (apart from the late evening if everyone in the house wants a bath at the same time!. We need a bigger tank really, as we can make much more hot water than we can store.
There are two reasons for using AC current to distribute power: one is the ability to change the voltage easily, and the second is that it eases the difficulties of switching high power circuits. At national grid level, these are quite non trivial (if you've ever stood near a station when it switches, you'll know - it's deafening), but it's also difficult to switch high DC voltages - the techniques are well understood but the componentry is expensive if it is to be reliable. This doesn't fit well with the present mad rush to solar. Likewise the panel cost has dropped dramatically too (they have a limited life, incidentally, because of UV effects).
So the comments about avoiding sharp salesmen very much apply. There is cheap and nasty kit out there that will give problems. There is probably good quality stuff that won't, but having solar on the roof isn't fit-and-forget, as there will be a requirement to replace panels in due course, also, as I have found, they can make roof maintenance very awkward and expensive.
You have to take a view as to how long the subsidies will continue, and, IMHO, choose your supplier most carefully.
E.
